I completed my undergraduate training at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, the University of Canterbury, and my doctoral and postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge, UK, before returning to Aotearoa New Zealand as an independent researcher. I am a Fellow of Royal Society Te Apārangi and lead the Phage-host interactions (Phi) laboratory at Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtago, the University of Otago. I have received various national and international honours, including an Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellowship and a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship. I am also the only New Zealander to have received the Fleming Prize (Microbiology Society, UK).

My research team study the complex world of molecular microbiology and virology, with a particular focus on the CRISPR-Cas bacterial adaptive immune system.