Profile

I am a multidisciplinary scientist, training initially as a plant biochemist before studying molecular chaperones in mitochondrial targeting as a PhD student (awarded March 2004), and eventually training in biophysical and structural biology in immune receptors as a postdoctoral researcher. I started my independent research career at Monash University with an NHMRC CDA fellowship (2008) followed by a Pfizer Australia Research fellowship (2010) in the area of glycan specificity in bacterial pathogenesis and physiology. I changed research fields when I was recruited to La Trobe University in 2014 as a senior lecturer to establish a laboratory focused on livestock-pathogen interactions in the School of Animal, Plant and Soil Science located in the AgriBio centre. My research is concentrated on aiding animal health with a focus on field-based diagnostics, molecular understanding of the role glycans and glycan-binding proteins play in disease pathogenesis and vaccine development