I am a trained and experienced microbiologist with a PhD from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, and 15 years of first-hand research experience with plants, insects, viruses, and bacteria. I am currently a Senior Scientist in the Pathogen Biosecure Environments Team of The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited. I am involved in developing and overseeing scientific projects, mentoring and training co-workers, and laboratory health and safety management. My work covers genetic and bacteriological techniques; transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic sample preparation; metabolic pathway analysis, gene expression analysis, genome sequencing and assembly (insect, fungi, bacteria, bacteriophage); large-scale data analysis and data management; bacteriophage isolation and characterisation.