Staff Profile

Dr William Laing
Science Group Leader, Biological Chemistry & Bioactives
Food Innovation

More information about our Food Innovation research

Dr William Laing

Qualifications

BSc (Hons), Botany, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
PhD, Plant Physiology, University of Illinois, United States of America

Research Interests & Activities

Kiwifruit biochemistry including genomics and genetics, proteinase inhibitors, ascorbate biosynthesis in plants, personalised human nutrition (nutrigenomics)

Honours & Awards

2007  Chairman’s Award for vitamin C work.
2001  Chairman’s Award for Functional Genomics.
1998  Recipient of Marsden Research Award on RubisCO
1996  Recipient Marsden Research Award on SQAPI
1985  Awarded a Citation Classic by ISI for seminal RubisCO paper
1979-1980 Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship awarded for research in Germany
1971-73 Fulbright Scholarship
1969  Fruit Federation Study Grant

Professional Memberships

Member, New Zealand Society of Biochemistry

Key Publications

Bulley, Sean,  Michele Wright, Caius Rommens, Hua Yan, Maysoon Rassam, Kui Lin-Wang, Christelle Andre, Di Brewster, Sakuntala Karunairetnam, Andrew C. Allan,C, William A Laing. 2012 Enhancing ascorbate in fruits and tubers through over-expression of the L-galactose pathway gene GDP-L-Galactose Phosphorylase Plant Biotechnology J DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7652.2011.00668.x
Chagné, David,  Célia Krieger, Maysoon Rassam, Mike Sullivan, Jenny Fraser, Christelle André, Massimo Pindo, Michela Troggio, Susan E. Gardiner, Rebecca A. Henry, Andrew C. Allan, Tony K. McGhie, William A. Laing. 2012 QTL and candidate gene mapping for polyphenolic composition in apple fruit BMC Plant Biology 12(1):12
Cooney, Janine M.,  Matthew P.G. Barnett, Diane Brewster, Bianca Knoch, Warren C. McNabb, William Laing, Nicole C. Roy Proteomic analysis of colon tissue from interleukin-10 gene-deficient mice fed polyunsaturated fatty acids and comparison with trancriptomic analysis Journal of Proteome Research 11(2):1065-77.
Edmunds, Shelley J,  Nicole C Roy, Marcus Davey, Janine M Cooney, Matthew PG Barnett, Shuotun Zhu, Zaneta Park, Donald R Love, William A Laing. Effects of kiwifruit extracts on colonic gene and protein expression levels in interleukin 10 gene-deficient mice. Accepted British Journal of Nutrition
Edmunds Shelley J; Nicole C Roy, Donald R Love, William Laing 2011 Kiwifruit extracts inhibit cytokine production by lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages and intestinal epithelial cells isolated from il10 gene deficient mice. Cellular Immunology 270(1):70-9
Knoch, B, Barnett, M.P.G, Cooney, J, Barraclough, D, Laing, W, McNabb, W.C, Roy, N.C. 2010: Dietary oleic acid as control fatty acid for multi-omic studies: an investigation using interleukin-10 gene-deficient mice. Biotechnology Journal 5(11) 1226–1240.
Bulley SM, Rassam M, Hoser D, Otto W, Schunemann N, Wright M, MacRae E, Gleave A, Laing W 2009. Gene expression studies in kiwifruit and gene over-expression in Arabidopsis indicates that GDP-L-galactose guanyltransferase is a major control point of vitamin C biosynthesis. Journal of Experimental Botany 60: 765–778.
Laing WA, Wright MA, Cooney J, Bulley SM 2007. The missing step of the L-galactose pathway of ascorbate biosynthesis in plants, an L-galactose guanyltransferase, increases leaf ascorbate content. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104: 9534–9539. (Cover article)