Research Interests

Our primary interest is in how the plant hormone auxin works because its actions are the foundations for most of the green plant world. As biochemists, we are fascinated by how specificity is conferred for auxin. Millions of similar, but different small organic molecules cause no reaction at all, whilst the natural hormone molecule (known as indole-3-acetic acid, IAA) fits into its binding pocket perfectly.

We purify members of the auxin receptor family of proteins in the lab and use these in experiments to measure binding using advanced instruments like Biacore SPR (surface plasmon resonance). We are interested in how and why different members of the receptor family show preferences for different auxin mimics and this is important in agriculture because synthetic auxins are vitally important selective herbicides.

The Napier group also has research interests in next generation plastics and agriculture. Principally, we are interested in nanoparticles and determining whether or not polymers with particular characteristics (size, charge etc) can pass into plants and how we may use this information to design nanoparticles to carry very specific payloads to benefit crop performance, or to design nanoparticles which are specifically excluded from plants.

A second interest is in the development of policies to promote fresh food (Fruit and vegetable) production in the UK. In 2023 we published "Growing British - a strategy paper for promoting fresh produce production in the UK". We are developing a knowledge exchange hub for the edible horticulture sector and helping drive the Warwick Agri-Tech initiative. Warwick Agri-Tech will combine world class facilities at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Warwick Crop Centre (WCC) and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult to spearhead the much needed acceleration of automation and robotics into horticulture, field crops and forestry.