Vernonica "Noni" Elsa Franklin-Tong FRS is an English plant cell biologist who is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham.
[5] Franklin-Tong was awarded a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) advanced fellowship.
Her research[1][6][7] investigates the cellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of the cell-cell recognition system of self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas.
[4][3] Franklin-Tong developed an in vitro bioassay that allowed for the first investigations into the cell biology of self-incompatibility, unravelling the mechanisms that underpin the rejection of pollen that is not compatible.
[4] The pollen S-determinant (PrpS) can be functionally expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant that is self-compatibile.