I am an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow and the Director of the UWA Centre for Plant Energy Biology

I am a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space

I am a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

I did my BSc (Hons) and PhD (1997) in plant biochemistry and molecular biology at the Australian National University in Canberra. I have held fellowships at The University of Oxford (HFSPO) and at UWA (ARC APD 2000-2002, ARC QEII 2002-2007, ARC APF 2008-2011, ARC Future Fellow 2012-2015, ARC Laureate Fellow 2021-).

I serve on the Editorial Board of The Plant Cell

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- Targeted Proteomics in Arabidopsis, Wheat and Barley

- Protein Profiles of cereal grains in response to development and the environment.

- Nitrogen use efficiency in plants with a focus on plant metabolism

- Measurement of protein turnover and protein aging in plants 
- Protein complex assembly in plants
- Oxidative stress and mitochondrial function in plants
- Biogenesis of mitochondria during plant development

Online Resources

I conduct research on the energy efficiency of plants in harsh environments in the Centre for Plant Energy Biology

I conduct research on protein production and biomass production systems in plants for controlled environments in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space.   

My team has developed online databases for:

The content and expression of proteins in wheat (wheat proteome)

The subcellular location of proteins in Arabidopsis (SUBA)

The subcellular location of proteins in plant crop species (CropPAL)

My research is funded by the Australian Research Council through the Discovery, Linkage and Centre's Programmes, by the UK Space Agency and Australian Space Agency, and by Industry funding from the Grains Reserarch and Development Corporation (GRDC) in collaborations with the wheat breeding companies Intergrain and Australian Grain Technologies.

Mitochondrial function in plants

Our research focuses on mitochondrial function in plants and the role of metabolism is the energy efficiency of plants. My team's work has provided key new insights into antioxidant defence pathways in mitochondrial, diurnal rhythms in mitochondrial metabolism, tissue-specific mitochondrial functions, plant-specific features of the electron transport chain, regulatory networks governing respiratory activity in plants, and the mechanisms of mitochondria damage during oxidative stress.

Plant Protein Analysis

My group is working on advances in plant proteome analysis to allow:

1. measurements of protein turnover rates

2. targeted quantitation of enzymes in metabolic pathways in both model plants and crops.

3. rapid profiling of plant protein profiles to assess breeding scale and ecological scale sample size experiments to provide protein driven insight and decision making. 

In international collaborations using novel dataset and software developments, we have been involved in building plant proteome databases, protein location prediction and protein-protein interaction prediction in plants.

Techniques and Expertise

- Recombinant Protein Production in Plants

-Organelle isolation from plants
- Protein subcellular location in plants
- Proteome analysis by peptide mass spectrometry
- Stable isotope labelling of plant components
- Protein purification: gel filtration, ion exchange, electrophoresis
- Enzymology of proteins and antioxidant defence systems
- Respiration measurements: whole tissues, organelles, in liquid and gas phase
- Metabolomics by GC-MS
- Bioenergetics of electron transport chains

Undergraduate Teaching:
BIOC3003 Omics—Global Approaches to Cell Function