Shawn Mansfield
Canada Research Chair in Wood and Fibre Quality (term completed)
Wood Science
Faculty of Forestry
Mansfield and his team use a combination of molecular biology, biochemistry, analytical chemistry and plant cell wall characterization techniques to elucidate the role of various biosynthetic pathways in the development, growth, chemistry and ultrastructure of secondary xylem formation in trees or plants. They are also pursuing a functional genomics investigation of sucrose metabolism in Populus, where they combine parallel chemical, biochemical and molecular approaches to define the key metabolites and genes involved in modulating sucrose biosynthesis and translocation, the generation and mobilization of starch, and the biosynthesis of oligomeric carbohydrates (e.g. raffinose, stachyose).