Prof. Anne Osbourn investigates plant natural products - function, synthesis and mechanisms underpinning metabolic diversification. An important advance from the Osbourn laboratory has been the discovery of gene clusters for specialized metabolic pathways in plants, a finding that has opened up new opportunities for elucidation of new pathways and chemistries through genome mining and for the development of synthetic/refactored clusters for improved/high-value plant traits. She has also developed and co-ordinates the Science, Art and Writing (SAW) initiative, a cross-curricular science education programme for enabling engagement of scientists with society.