People have been used plants for medicine, perfumes and as aromatic herbs for thousands of years. The biological activity attributed to these plants is a result of various chemical compounds known as specialized metabolites. Aromatic and medicinal plants are valued for their ability to accumulate such compounds which are beneficial for humans. They possess a huge chemical diversity that contributes to our kitchen, medicine cabinet and perfume bouquet. This diversity presents both between species and within a species. The genetic mechanisms that drive this chemical diversity are largely unknown. Also, the active compounds in some of the important plants are unknown or their biosynthetic pathway is still a riddle.

     Our goal is to bring state-of-the-art methods to the field of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants to promote both science and breeding. That includes (but not limited to) sequencing-based genotyping and QTL mapping, transcriptomic analyses, metabolomics and genome editing.