Joe Liew

My name is Joe and I have just started my PhD at UWA at the School of Biological Sciences, where I also did my Master's degree. I was born to a Malaysian Chinese family and spent my childhood in Malaysia, my teenage years in the Netherlands, and started my adult life and did my Bachelor's degreen in Scotland and am continuing my journey of becoming a plant researcher here, in no better place than Western Australia. 

My PhD project is on the mechanisms of heat and salinity stress response of capsicum, a genus that include chillis and paprikas. From the spicy varieties in Sichuan hotpot to the flavourful mild varieties in Hungarian Goulash, capsicum is an iconic crop for many culinary delights across the globe. In my PhD capsicum project, my aim is to better understand how different capsicum species and varieties differ in physiological responses to heat and salinity and the molecular and potentially the genetic factors driving these responses, so as to inform breeding objectives for more desirable capsicum traits and trade in growing regions where the heat and salinity are characteristic obstacles, such as in Western Australia. My principal and coordinating supervisor is Professor Sergey Shabala and my co-supervisors are Professor Erik Veneklaas and Dr Ping Yun.

Before my involvement in Capsicum, I conducted a nitrogen isotope tracing project for my Master's degree. I looked at whether leakage from aging roots could be a pathway for nitrogen to move from plants to their root symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus. Over the same period, I also participated in a few projects on the nutrient acquisition strategies of Eucalyptus and Australian Apiaceae under the leadership of Emeritus Professor Hans Lambers. Before coming to Australia, I did an internship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh under Dr Christopher Ellis. I investigated how the drying rate of Scottish tree bark lichens are affected by their growth form and the texture of the bark, and published a paper on the experiment.

I look forward to immerse and discover in depth about capsicum heat and salinity stress in my PhD, collaborate on related side projects, and shape myself to becoming the fully qualified plant researcher I aspired myself to be.