I completed my PhD in the Woodrow Plant Physiology Lab in 2002 after studying the chemical defense of cyanogenesis in a number of Eucalyptus species.  I then worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the Schachtman Lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, U.S.A.  My research there involved studying root to shoot signaling in corn under drought stress, focusing on the wide variety of chemical signals present in xylem sap including ions, hormones, peptides and proteins.  I returned to the Plant Physiology Lab in 2005 as a post-doctoral fellow working in collaboration with our Eucalyptus oil industry partner, Felton, Grimwade & Bickford to help maximize oil yield and quality in blue mallee plantations.