Professor Robert Furbank Bob is Professor of Photosynthesis at ANU. Bob’s research is focused on improving photosynthesis and carbon partitioning traits in crop plants for increased yield. He works on both C₃ and C₄ photosynthesis and spans approaches from the molecular regulation of transcription to phenomics in the field.  He is passionate about developing translational links between basic plant biology and agricultural outcomes.

Dr Kavya Yalamanchili Kavya is a postdoc in Bob Furbank’s group. She did her PhD in plant developmental biology at Wageningen University & research under the supervision of Ben Scheres, Viola Willemsen and Joop Vermeer. Kavya’s research focuses on installing key genes controlling C₄ biochemistry, metabolite transport and anatomical specialisation into rice.

Dr Jing Zhang Jing is a postdoc in Bob Furbank’s group. She completed her PhD at Huazhong Agricultural University and The University of Western Australia. Her current research focuses on quantifying metabolites in transgenic C₄ rice lines to understand the underlying metabolic mechanism.