Andrew Hanson has worked for more than 30 years on plant and microbial metabolic biochemistry and engineering, mainly in relation to primary pathways. After starting professional life in industry in the UK, he moved to the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University, then to Université de Montréal and University of Florida. His research portfolio includes crop stress metabolism, amino acid and sulfur metabolism, B vitamin metabolism, metabolite damage and repair pathways and, most recently, the use of synthetic biology in metabolic engineering. His research is guided by the aim of utility to agriculture and the bioeconomy.