Dr Christopher Ford

Biography/ Background

I have been lecturing in the area of Oenology since 2001; before that I held a number of post-doctoral research positions within Australia and the UK. My first degree was obtained in 1984 from Hatfield Polytechnic, and in 1988 I received a DPhil. from the University of Sussex for work in the biochemistry of nitrogen fixation. This led to a postdoctoral position at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, in London, where I worked on the replication of influenza viruses. In 1990 I moved with my partner to Adelaide, where we have remained to this day, increasing our footprint on this wide brown land with two daughters and sundry mongrel dogs.

Teaching Interests

I am coordinator for the Level 2 Oenology course Introductory Winemaking, and the Level 3 Oenology course Wine Packaging and Quality Management. My teaching in these areas encompasses many aspects of wine chemistry and technology, and their relation to production techniques from vineyard to bottling hall. I emphasise the active nature of learning, and have developed my teaching methods and the material presented in these courses to reflect this.

I am also involved in the practical teaching of Winemaking on the level 3 courses Winemaking at Vintage and Fermentation Technology; in addition I currently provide a number of lectures in brewing technology.

Research Interests

My research falls into three broad areas

 

• Developing an understanding of organic acid metabolism in plants. Within my laboratory, and in collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Kathleen Soole (The Flinders University of South Australia), Prof. Doug Cook (University of California Davis), and Dr Seth DeBolt, (University of Kentucky) we are investigating the mechanisms by which developing grape berries metabolise ascorbic, tartaric and malic acids. To achieve this we are using a range of biochemical, molecular and metabolic approaches in whole berries and cell suspension systems.

• Characterisation of glucosyltransferase enzymes (GTases)involved in secondary metabolism. I started working in this area in 1995 when a post-doc with Prof. Peter Hoj; we identified and characterised the anthocyanidin Gtase from grapevines. Recently, Prof. Gideon Davies at The University of York and his group successfully resolved the three-dimensional structure of this enzyme - the outcome of a huge amount of work over the previous three years. Within my laboratory we are continuing to seek and characterise further GTases from grapevines, and have recently extended our studies into species of Prunus, where the function of Gtases in the production of cyanogenic glucosides has important consequences for the organoleptic properties of the crop. This work was recently published in Functional Plant Biology (2008).

• Unravelling the outcomes of extended maceration (EM) in the production of red wines. During red wine production, the period of contact between berry skins and juice, must or wine may be extended beyond the normal periods to provide additional properties to the finished wine. Work in my laboratory is seeking to provide objective assessments of the changes imparted by EM - using a combination of chemical and sensory analyses the basis of the changes occurring as a consequence of these practices is being studied. We hope in this way to both understand the processes and be in a position to advise the wine industry on strategies for achieving desired wine outcomes.

Research within my lab is currently funded by the Australian Research Council and the Australian Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation.

Current CMF Lab members:

Tricia Franks and Matt Hayes - UA Postdoctoral fellows

Venetia Joscelyne - PhD student
Vanessa Melino - PhD student
Crista Burbidge - PhD student
Crystal Sweetman - PhD student (based at Flinders University)

Jenny Bellon - PhD student (based at AWRI)

Cyd Yonker - PhD student (based at EJ Gallo Winery, Modesto, California).

Co-supervised PhD students: Vicky Harris (UA Wine and Horticulture); Alana Capaldo (UA Wine and Horticulture).

Past PhD students: Louise Robinson; Seth DeBolt; Susan Wheeler; Lin Lin Low, Iraj Tavassolian.

Past Honours students: Madeleine Griffith; Belinda Sinclair; Christobelle Anderson; Guy Lyons; Sam Gavan; Sam Hambour; Kelly Wellington, Katie Grieve.

Past Masters students - Mario Mazza; Jayendra Patel; Chandra Rongala.

Publications

Ford, C.M., Boss, P.K. and Hoj, P.B. (1998). Cloning and characterisation of Vitis vinifera UDP-glucose:flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase, a homologue of the enzyme encoded by the maize Bronze-1 locus that may primarily serve to glucosylate anthocyanidins in vivo. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 9224-9233.

Ford, C.M. and Hoj, P.B. (1998). Multiple glucosyltransferase activities in the grapevine Vitis vinifera. Aus. J. Grape and Wine Research 4, 10-20.

Haselgrove, L., Botting, D., van Heeswijck, R., Hoj, P.B., Dry, P.R., Ford, C.M. and Iland, P.G. (2000). Canopy microclimate and berry composition: The effect of bunch exposure on the phenolic composition of Vitis vinifera L cv. Shiraz grape berries. Aus. J Grape and Wine Research 6, 141-149.

El-Kereamy, A., Chervin, C, Souquet, J.-M., Moutounet, M., Monje, M.C., Nepveu, F., Mondies, H., Ford, C.M., van Heeswijck, R. and Roustan, J.-P. (2002) Ethanol triggers grape gene expression leading to anthocyanin accumulation during berry ripening. Plant Science 163, 449-454.

El-Kereamy, A., Chervin, C., Roustan, J.-P., Cheynier, V., Souquet, J.-M., Moutounet, M., Raynal, J., Ford, C., Latche, A., Pech, J.-C. and Bouzayen, M. (2003) Exogenous ethylene stimulates the long-term expression of genes related to anthocyanin biosynthesis in grape berries. Physiologica Plantarum 119, 175-182.

DeBolt, S., Hardie, W.J., Tyerman, S.D. and Ford, C.M. (2004) Composition and synthesis of raphide crystals and druse crystals in berries of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon: Ascorbic acid as precursor for both oxalic and tartaric acids as revealed by radiolabelling studies. Aus. J. Grape and Wine Research 10, 134-142.

Mookerjee, S., Guerin, J., Collins, G., Ford, C.M. and Sedgley, M. Paternity analysis using microsatellite markers to identify pollen donors in an olive grove. Theor. Appl. Genet. 111, 1174-1182.

Offen, W., Martinez-Fleites, C., Yang, M., Kiat-Lim, E., Davis, B.G., Tarling, C.A., Ford, C.M., Bowles, D.J. and Davies, G.J. (2006) Structure of a flavonoid glucosyltransferase reveals the basis for plant natural product modification. The EMBO Journal 25, 1396-1405.

DeBolt, S., Cook, D.R. and Ford, C.M. (2006) L-Tartaric acid synthesis from vitamin C in higher plants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 103, 5608-5613.

Franks, T.K., Powell, K.S., Choimes, S., Marsh, E., Iocco, P., Sinclair, B.J., Ford, C.M., van Heeswijck, R.J. (2006) Consequences of transferring three sorgum genes for secondary metabolite (cyanogenic glucoside) biosynthesis to grapevine hairy roots. Transgenic Research 15, 181 -195.

DeBolt, S., Melino, V.J. and Ford, C.M. (2007) Ascorbate as a biosynthetic precursor in plants. Ann. Bot. 99, 3-9.

deSouza, E.M., Pedrosa, F.O., Wassem, R, Ford, C.M. and Yates, M.G. (2007) Genes involved in Sec-independent membrane targeting of hydrogenase in Azotobacter chroococcum. Res. Microbiol. 158, 272.

Robinson, L.H., Healy, P., Stewart, D.C., Eglinton, J.K., Ford, C.M. and Evans, D.E. (2007) The identification of a barley haze active protein that influences beer haze stability: The genetic basis of a barley malt haze active protein. J. Cereal Sci. 45, 335-342.

Harris, V., Ford, C.M., Jiranek, V. and Grbin, P.R. Dekkera and Brettanomyces growth and utilisation of hydroxycinnamic acids in synthetic media. (2008) Appl. Microbiol. Biotech. 78, 997-1006.

DeBolt, S., Ristic, R., Iland, P and Ford, C.M. Altered light interception reduces grape berry weight and modulates organic acid biosynthesis during development. Hort. Sci. 43, 957-961.

Wirthensohn, M.G., Chin, W.L., Franks, T., Baldock, G., Ford, C.M. and Sedgley, M. Characterising the flavour phenotypes of almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) kernels. J. Hort. Sci. Biotechnol. Acccepted for publication 15 Jan 2008.

Franks, T.K., Yadollahi, A., Wirthensohn, M.G., Guerin, J.G., Kaiser, B.N., Sedgley, M. and Ford, C.M. (2008) A seed-coat cyanohydrin glucosyltransferase is associated with bitterness in almond (Prunus dulcis Mill) kernels. Functional Plant Biology 35, 236-246.

Professional Interests

In addition to teaching and research activities, I have acted as the Postgraduate Coordinator for research students within the Department of Horticulture, Viticulture and Oenology (since 2004, the Discipline of Wine and Horticulture). In this time almost 100 PhD and Masters students have passed through the Department/Discipline. In May 2006 I was appointed Associate Dean (Postgraduate) for the Faculty of Sciences, with responsibility for postgraduate coursework programs and Higher Degree (Research) student matters within the faculty.

 

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 26 May 2009