Sarah E. O’Connor

13.3k total citations · 3 hit papers
178 papers, 8.7k citations indexed

About

Sarah E. O’Connor is a scholar working on Molecular Biology, Pharmacology and Pharmacology. According to data from OpenAlex, Sarah E. O’Connor has authored 178 papers receiving a total of 8.7k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 126 papers in Molecular Biology, 69 papers in Pharmacology and 62 papers in Pharmacology. Recurrent topics in Sarah E. O’Connor's work include Alkaloids: synthesis and pharmacology (57 papers), Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis (50 papers) and Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis (44 papers). Sarah E. O’Connor is often cited by papers focused on Alkaloids: synthesis and pharmacology (57 papers), Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis (50 papers) and Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis (44 papers). Sarah E. O’Connor collaborates with scholars based in Germany, United States and United Kingdom. Sarah E. O’Connor's co-authors include Justin J. Maresh, Barbara Imperiali, Vincent Courdavault, Weerawat Runguphan, Christopher T. Walsh, Lorenzo Caputi, Stephanie Brown, Marc Clastre, David K. Liscombe and Elizabeth McCoy and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science and Cell.

In The Last Decade

Sarah E. O’Connor

169 papers receiving 8.6k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Chemistry and biology of monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis

2006 796 citations Sarah E. O’Connor et al. Natural Product Reports profile →
Missing enzymes in the biosynthesis of the anticancer drug vinblastine in Madagascar periwinkle

2018 266 citations Lorenzo Caputi, Jakob Franke et al. Science profile →
Single-cell multi-omics in the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus

2023 104 citations Joshua C. Wood, Carlos E. Rodríguez López et al. Nature Chemical Biology profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Sarah E. O’Connor Germany	53	5.8k	2.7k	2.3k	2.0k	1.6k	178	8.7k
Peter J. Facchini Canada	54	5.6k 1.0×	3.7k 1.4×	1.8k 0.8×	1.8k 0.9×	2.7k 1.7×	150	8.7k
Jian‐Min Yue China	49	6.8k 1.2×	1.2k 0.4×	2.3k 1.0×	1.8k 0.9×	2.0k 1.3×	377	9.8k
Hiroyuki Koshino Japan	46	3.6k 0.6×	2.1k 0.8×	3.4k 1.5×	555 0.3×	1.5k 0.9×	351	8.5k
Ikuro Abe Japan	55	7.5k 1.3×	5.6k 2.1×	1.9k 0.8×	784 0.4×	1.6k 1.0×	372	11.1k
Geoffrey A. Cordell United States	44	3.7k 0.6×	1.2k 0.4×	1.6k 0.7×	1.2k 0.6×	2.3k 1.4×	264	7.3k
Hideji Itokawa Japan	54	6.0k 1.0×	1.5k 0.6×	2.3k 1.0×	2.0k 1.0×	2.4k 1.5×	401	10.6k
Ren Xiang Tan China	51	3.6k 0.6×	4.3k 1.6×	1.6k 0.7×	719 0.4×	2.7k 1.7×	216	10.0k
Yuemao Shen China	42	4.0k 0.7×	3.1k 1.2×	1.5k 0.7×	526 0.3×	1.5k 1.0×	365	7.5k
Craig A. Townsend United States	55	6.9k 1.2×	4.7k 1.7×	2.4k 1.1×	371 0.2×	1.5k 0.9×	270	11.4k
Munekazu Iinuma Japan	49	5.4k 0.9×	2.0k 0.7×	1.5k 0.7×	969 0.5×	4.3k 2.7×	384	10.1k

Countries citing papers authored by Sarah E. O’Connor

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Sarah E. O’Connor's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Sarah E. O’Connor with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Sarah E. O’Connor more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Sarah E. O’Connor

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Sarah E. O’Connor. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Sarah E. O’Connor. The network helps show where Sarah E. O’Connor may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Sarah E. O’Connor

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Sarah E. O’Connor. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Sarah E. O’Connor based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Sarah E. O’Connor. Sarah E. O’Connor is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

Sort: Min cites: Since: Top N: Style:

20 of 20 papers shown

Kamileen, Mohamed O., Benke Hong, Klaus Gase, et al.. (2025). Oxidative Rearrangements of the Alkaloid Intermediate Geissoschizine. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 64(24). e202501323–e202501323. 2 indexed citations

Kim, Rinho, et al.. (2025). Single-cell metabolome and RNA-seq multiplexing on single plant cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 122(43). e2512828122–e2512828122.

Grabe, Veit, et al.. (2025). A pseudoenzyme enables indole biosynthesis in eudicot plants. Nature Chemical Biology. 22(1). 120–127.

Köllner, Tobias G., Ulschan Bathe, Nathalie D. Lackus, et al.. (2025). Biosynthesis of biologically active terpenoids in the mint family (Lamiaceae). Natural Product Reports. 42(11). 1887–1908. 1 indexed citations

Gilday, Alison D., Kerstin Ploss, Yi Li, et al.. (2025). Identification of BAHD‐acyltransferase enzymes involved in ingenane diterpenoid biosynthesis. New Phytologist. 247(6). 2591–2600.

DeMars, Matthew D. & Sarah E. O’Connor. (2024). Evolution and diversification of carboxylesterase-like [4+2] cyclases in aspidosperma and iboga alkaloid biosynthesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 121(7). e2318586121–e2318586121. 9 indexed citations

Mori, Tetsuya, Mayuko Sato, Mayumi Wakazaki, et al.. (2024). Integration of cell differentiation and initiation of monoterpenoid indole alkaloid metabolism in seed germination of Catharanthus roseus. New Phytologist. 242(3). 1156–1171. 6 indexed citations

Kessler, Danny, Veit Grabe, Carlos E. Rodríguez López, et al.. (2024). A scaffold protein manages the biosynthesis of steroidal defense metabolites in plants. Science. 386(6728). 1366–1372. 17 indexed citations

Luck, Katrin, et al.. (2023). Reinventing metabolic pathways: Independent evolution of benzoxazinoids in flowering plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120(42). e2307981120–e2307981120. 19 indexed citations

10.

Hong, Benke, Dagny Grzech, Lorenzo Caputi, et al.. (2022). Biosynthesis of strychnine. Nature. 607(7919). 617–622. 99 indexed citations

11.

Lozada, Néstor J. Hernández, Benke Hong, Joshua C. Wood, et al.. (2022). Biocatalytic routes to stereo-divergent iridoids. Nature Communications. 13(1). 4718–4718. 15 indexed citations

12.

Köllner, Tobias G., Anja David, Katrin Luck, et al.. (2022). Biosynthesis of iridoid sex pheromones in aphids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119(42). e2211254119–e2211254119. 17 indexed citations

13.

Yamamoto, Kotaro T., Dagny Grzech, Κωνσταντίνος Κουδούνας, et al.. (2021). Improved virus-induced gene silencing allows discovery of a serpentine synthase gene in Catharanthus roseus. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. 187(2). 846–857. 26 indexed citations

14.

López, Carlos E. Rodríguez, Benke Hong, Christian Paetz, et al.. (2020). Two bi‐functional cytochrome P450 CYP72 enzymes from olive ( Olea europaea ) catalyze the oxidative C‐C bond cleavage in the biosynthesis of secoxy‐iridoids – flavor and quality determinants in olive oil. New Phytologist. 229(4). 2288–2301. 19 indexed citations

15.

Bernonville, Thomas Dugé de, Stéphane Maury, Alain Delaunay, et al.. (2020). Developmental Methylome of the Medicinal Plant Catharanthus roseus Unravels the Tissue-Specific Control of the Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Pathway by DNA Methylation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 21(17). 6028–6028. 19 indexed citations

16.

Yamamoto, Kotaro T., Katsutoshi Takahashi, Lorenzo Caputi, et al.. (2019). The complexity of intercellular localisation of alkaloids revealed by single‐cell metabolomics. New Phytologist. 224(2). 848–859. 75 indexed citations

17.

Caputi, Lorenzo, Jakob Franke, Scott C. Farrow, et al.. (2018). Missing enzymes in the biosynthesis of the anticancer drug vinblastine in Madagascar periwinkle. Science. 360(6394). 1235–1239. 266 indexed citations breakdown →

18.

Leisner, Courtney P., et al.. (2017). Differential iridoid production as revealed by a diversity panel of 84 cultivated and wild blueberry species. PLoS ONE. 12(6). e0179417–e0179417. 22 indexed citations

19.

Payne, Richard, Deyang Xu, Emilien Foureau, et al.. (2017). An NPF transporter exports a central monoterpene indole alkaloid intermediate from the vacuole. Nature Plants. 3(2). 16208–16208. 122 indexed citations

20.

Liscombe, David K., Aimee Usera, & Sarah E. O’Connor. (2010). Homolog of tocopherol C methyltransferases catalyzes N methylation in anticancer alkaloid biosynthesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107(44). 18793–18798. 72 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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