Biography

From an early age I have been curious about how and why thing work the way they do. I also found plants fascinating as they contribute so much to our lives: food, oxygen, shelter, medicines. I am particularly interested in plant secondary metabolism and how these metabolites contribute to plant success and human enjoyment of them.  During my PhD at the Univeristy of Florida I worked on characterizing the biosynthesis pathways of molecules that contribute to tomato flavor. I then moved to the University of British Columbia where I began researching spruce defense again insect pest and the biosynthesis of defense compounds. After receiving a Young Researcher Talent grant from the Norwegian Research Council, I came to NIBIO to study the molecular mechanism of spruce defense priming. Expertise: plant defense, molecular biology, plant biochemistry, functional genomics

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