After earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Sydney in agricultural chemistry, he went to the Waite institute (University of Adelaide) to gain a doctorate based on how grapevines convert vitamin C into the important wine chemical, tartaric acid. He then changed paths and learned Arabidopsis genetics as a post doctoral researcher at the Carnegie Institute for Science (USA). His laboratories current research goals are focused on the characterization of genes involved in cell wall synthesis, stemming from an overarching interests in the mechanisms of plant cell shape and morphogenesis.