Dr Anne Sawyer is an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow based at The University of Queensland. Her research focus is the development of double-stranded RNA to protect crops and native plants from fungal and oomycete pathogens. Dr Sawyer completed her PhD at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, in 2014 on gene expression in microalgae. She then carried out a three-year postdoc at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany on microalgal hydrogen production. Dr Sawyer returned to Australia and The University of Queensland in 2018 to study RNA interference in plants and plant pathogenic fungi. Dr Sawyer works closely with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Nufarm Australia, Greenlife Industry Australia, Pineapples Australia, Australian Native Products, the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association, Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited) and New Zealand Plant and Food Research to translate her research to industry.