Dr Simon Robinson

Dr Simon Robinson: understanding the contribution of grapes to wine quality

Dr Simon Robinson is Program Leader of Horticultural Crop Improvement at CSIRO's Plant Industry Division.

• 24 December 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Simon Robinson is an internationally recognised research scientist in the areas of:

• plant physiology
• biochemistry
• molecular biology.

Dr Robinson has an active research program in viticulture, studying the factors controlling ripening and fruit quality in grapes and regulation of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway in plants.

Background

Dr Robinson has extensive research experience in photosynthesis, primary and secondary metabolism in plants.

His group successfully used genetic modification to down regulate genes encoding polyphenol oxidase enzymes in plants and this work was applied commercially with industry partners in a number of crops.

Academic qualifications

Dr Robinson has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Science with Honours, from The University of Adelaide, South Australia
• Doctor of Philosophy, also from The University of Adelaide.

Achievements

Dr Robinson has worked in a number of laboratories in the USA and Europe and has published more than 100 scientific papers.

He is the principal inventor on a number of Australian and international patents.

He also:

• has served on the editorial boards of a number of international journals
• is Program Manager for Improved Grapevine Performance and Fruit Quality Through Gene Technology in the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Viticulture.

See a list of recent scientific papers by Dr Robinson on the next page.