I am a plant biologist at the University of Reading working toward a PhD in plant disease control.  The focus of the project is on the fungal pathogens which infect commercial avocados, and someday I hope to apply these skills to the many other tree diseases currently threatening our forests.  Trees have always fascinated me, and avocado trees are an especially fashionable commodity right now.  Hopefully my research will reduce the devastating loss that avocado growers and suppliers currently face due to fungal rots.  If I’m very successful, you may never buy a rotten avocado again!  But I’m also realistic…

As an undergraduate, I worked with the algae species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii where I developed a genetic transformation technique using the viral 2A skip mechanism.  Next I studied plant cytoskeleton organization in Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana using confocal mycroscopy.  From here I worked in a proteomics laboratory studying photosynthesis regulation, but decided that I would rather work in ecology.  I came to the University of Reading as a new Plant Diversity student, and I plan to leave it as a tree disease specialist.