Dr Deborah Cox

Deborah is Managing Director of Lagan Valley Scientific where she currently supports turf managers & agronomists with pest & disease consultancy services in over 35 countries. She also serves on the GMAs Board of Directors. Deborah began her career in molecular biology over 20 years ago at Abertay University & completed a PhD at Queens University Belfast where she studied the genetics behind osmotic stress response in plants. She secured a post-doctoral appointment at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, before returning to Belfast to work on molecular interactions between plants & plant parasitic nematodes specifically (firstly at Queens University Belfast, and then at the Agri Food & Biosciences Institute). She was the plant pest & pathogen diagnostics lab manager during her time at the Agri Food & Biosciences Institute which used molecular biology techniques to confirm quarantine organisms and support early detection of pests that require management