Benjamin R. Lichman

Dr. Benjamin R. Lichman is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Biology, University of York, and a key member of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP). His research integrates plant natural product biosynthesis, enzyme discovery, and synthetic biology to address sustainable biotechnological challenges.

Research Interests: The Lichman Lab explores the molecular mechanisms of plant natural product formation, including biocatalysts and bioactivities. His work spans evolutionary origins of metabolic diversity, synthetic biology platforms, and industrial biocatalysis, with applications in pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals.

Article Trends: Recent publications focus on alkaloid and terpenoid biosynthesis, phylogenomic analysis of plant genera, genome assembly techniques, and synthetic biology strategies for natural product production.

• Future Leaders Fellowship (2019)
• Arthur C. Neish Young Investigator Award (2023)
• Frontiers in Chemistry Rising Stars (2020)

Lichman actively supervises PhD projects and leads funded initiatives like the Global Centres project (2025–2030) and Royal Society-funded research on medicinal mint gene clusters (2024–2026). His lab emphasizes interdisciplinary training in biochemistry, molecular biology, and bioinformatics.