Katherine Meacham

Katherine Meacham

Katherine was a plant physiologist, with an agronomy and farming background. Plant phenomics and higher throughput characterisation of photosynthetic efficiency have been her focus so far, with much use of fluorescence and gas exchange. She works  with the Program 1 team, Improving leaf CO2 capture efficiency, in the von Caemmerer Lab at The Australian National University.

Katherine researched the analysis of light harvesting and spatial and temporal dynamics of electron transport rate in rice. Her focus falls on dealing with photosynthetic efficiency in dynamic canopy light environments, and how to quantify such at the leaf level, in changing canopy environments. Using fluorescence measurements as a higher throughput tool, her work highlights areas of potential improvement in electron transport chain and photo-protective pathways.

Katherine’s PhD thesis is entitled “Diurnal fluorescence profiles in rice canopies: Building a dynamic model of photosynthesis for Oryza sativa”.

Katherine was part of the Centre from 2014 to 2015