I began my university career and graduated 7 years later with a PhD. I studied a wide range of subjects from Zoology to Geography but decided on Botany as a major for my undergraduate degree. The stand out reason was that the practical component would expose me to a working lab. In my final year I studied Genetics. This was an important step for me as John Ross, who had supervised the practical classes later became my honours and then PhD supervisor.
My honours project and PhD focused on plant hormones, specifically auxin and gibberellin and how they interact. Throughout my postgraduate degree I presented posters at conferences and a seminar at an international conference. I also published several co-authored papers in international journals.
I now work for the CSIRO as a Postdoctoral Fellow, based near Mildura on the Victoria/New South Wales border. My project involves assessing the content of health promoting compounds in fruit and vegetables and their high pressure processed products. High pressure processing is an innovative technique that could potentially revolutionise the food industry.