She received her BS in microbiology from The Pennsylvania State University (1995) and Ph.D. on plant-microbe interactions at The University of California, Berkeley (2002). She then worked as postdoc and research scientist leading fundamental and applied research for the food and dairy industry in The Netherlands. In 2008, she initiated her laboratory at UC Davis to study the molecular genetics, ecology, and host-microbe interactions of lactic acid bacteria in food systems and the mammalian digestive tract. The broad objective of her lab is to understand the roles of food-associated bacteria in food processing, food safety, and human health. Milk is of particular interest because of the bioactive and microbial components in dairy products that have the potential to benefit health.