My research interests lie in environmental regulation of plant development. I am fascinated by the diverse range morphological decisions that plants can make and the profound effects on survivability and yields that developmental plasticity brings. As phytohormones integrate environmental signals with development, in a cell and tissue specific manner, to coordinate these decisions, understanding their localisation and dynamics is essential to understanding development.
I have long been fascinated by how plants change their physiology and development to suit dynamic environments without a centralised information processing system. In particular, I’ve spent my scientific career investigating how a suite of mobile small molecules, the phytohormones, serve as both signal-integrators and program activators in plants.
The importance of the phytohormone gibberellin for plant growth and development is well recognised. Understanding where and how GA is distributed is the first step to understanding how GA signalling leads to such a diverse range of responses. I am fascinated by cellular GA dynamics in the dark grown hypocotyl and how these spatiotemporal patterns of GA arise.
