Cathie Martin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cathie Martin
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Cathie Martin in 2021
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| Born |
Catherine Rosemary Martin
April 1955 (age 70) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, PhD) |
| Known for | Blue tomato |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Plant Biology |
| Institutions | University of East Anglia John Innes Centre |
| Thesis | Plant cell differentiation during seed germination (1981) |
| Notable students | Beverley Glover |
Catherine Rosemary Martin (born in April 1955) is a scientist who studies plants. She is a professor at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and a research leader at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England. Her main goal is to understand how what we eat affects our health. She also works on making crops healthier to improve diets around the world and help fight common diseases.
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Becoming a Scientist
Cathie Martin studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, one of the top universities in the world. She earned very high grades. Later, in 1981, she completed her PhD in Biochemistry at the same university. A PhD is a special degree that shows you are an expert in your field through a lot of research.
Amazing Plant Discoveries
After finishing her studies, Cathie Martin became a researcher at the University of Cambridge. In 1983, she moved to the John Innes Centre, a famous plant research institute. She was the first person to find genes that control the shape of cells in plants.
Making Food Healthier
Since the year 2000, Cathie's research has focused on how plants can help us stay healthy. She looks at how to make crops stronger with natural chemicals that act like 'natural medicines'.
One of her most famous projects was creating the purple tomato. These tomatoes have high levels of a healthy compound called anthocyanin, which is also found in blueberries and blackberries. Anthocyanins are good for you because they can help protect your body from damage.
In 2022, Cathie Martin's lab also created special tomatoes that have a lot of a substance that turns into vitamin D when you eat it. Vitamin D is important for strong bones and a healthy immune system. These tomatoes were planned for outdoor tests to see how well they grow and if they can help people get more vitamin D from their diet.
Cathie Martin also helped write a textbook called Plant Biology. She was the first woman and first non-American to be the editor-in-chief of The Plant Cell, a major science journal. She also helped start a company called Norfolk Plant Sciences. This company aims to share the benefits of plant biotechnology with people in Europe and the United States.
Awards and Recognitions
Cathie Martin has received many awards for her important work in plant science:
- In 1990, she received the President's Medal from the Society for Experimental Biology.
- She became a member of EMBO (a group of top life scientists) in 2011.
- In 2012, she was made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- In 2013, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen for her services to plant biotechnology.
- In 2014, she won the "most promising innovator" award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for her work on the purple tomatoes.
- She became a fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2017.
- In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), which is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- In 2021, she was awarded the Rank Prize for Nutrition.
