User:David Gray Shef/sandbox

Julie Elizabeth Gray (née Knapp) is a plant molecular biologist and Professor or Plant Cell Signalling in the School of Biosciences at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is currently Director of Research and Innovation for the School of Biosciences.

Education
Gray was educated at the University of Liverpool where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in 1983. She was awarded a PhD in 1989 from the University of Nottingham's department of Agriculture and Food Science for research into the control and manipulation of gene expression during tomato fruit ripening.

Fruit ripening
Gray was involved in the creation of the first genetically engineered food – slow ripening tomatoes – through the identification of major fruit ripening genes (European J Biochemistry 1988, Plant Molecular Biology 1989, 1990 & 1992).

Self-incompatibility
Discovered ribonuclease activity is essential for rejection of self-pollen and necessary to promote out-breeding in many plants (Nature 1990, Science 1990, Plant Cell 1991).

Stomatal development
Described fundamental control mechanisms that translate endogenous and environmental signals into plant responses, particularly how stomata develop and open or close (PNAS 1999, Nature 2000, Plant Journal 2008, Molecular Cell 2013, Current Biology 2009 & 2015 & 2017).

Demonstrated that the molecular control of stomatal responses evolved over 400 million years ago (Current Biology 2011, Development 2016, Nature Plants 2016).

Crop development
Pioneered the creation of crops with fewer stomata, drought tolerance and enhanced water use efficiency (Plant Physiology 2017; New Phytologist 2019). Gene edited rice is undergoing trials in Asia, and improved maize crops are being developed by a European company.

Led international projects to control crop water use, producing work highly commended by UNESCO and winning the Newton Prize Mexico in 2018.

Awards and honours
Gray was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2021.

A team led by Gray won the Newton 2018 Mexico Prize for their work on the manipulation of bean pod stomata to improve yield under drought and climate change.

Funding
major sources...

Personal life
Gray has a husband, David Gray, and two children.