Dr. Peter Facchini is Professor of Plant Biochemistry in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary and holds the Canada Research Chair in Plant Metabolic Processes Biotechnology. He obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto in 1991 and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Kentucky and the Universite de Montreal prior to his faculty appointment at the University of Calgary in 1995. His research is focused on the production of bioactive metabolites in medicinal plants. In particular, he has been working for the past 18 years toward a comprehensive understanding of the biochemistry, molecular and cell biology of pharmaceutical alkaloid metabolism in opium poppy, and he is regarded as the international authority in the field.

Dr. Facchini's research team has made numerous important scientific contributions including the isolation of several key genes involved in the biosynthesis of morphine, codeine and other compounds, the establishment of the world’s largest collection of genomics resources for opium poppy and related plants, the identification of the specific cell types that participate in alkaloid biosynthesis, and the metabolic engineering of economically important plants. His research is funded from diverse sources ranging from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to industrial contracts. He is the project leader for a recently funded $13.6 million Genome Canada grant aimed at the commercial production of high-value plant metabolites such as codeine and morphine, in microbial fermentation systems.

Dr. Facchini has published over 100 research papers and scholarly articles in the field. Among numerous media appearances, his work has been featured on the CBC National News and the Discovery Channel, in the Globe and Mail and the National Post, and in newspapers and current events programs around the world. He received the C.D. Nelson Award in 2003 from the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists as the outstanding young plant biologist in Canada.

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