Dr Melissa Brazier-Hicks is a Senior Research Associate in the Crop Protection Group headed by Professor Robert Edwards in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University, UK. Melissa graduated with an honours degree in Biochemistry from Cardiff University, she then obtained her PhD, in Plant Biochemistry, from Durham University, UK. She has held Post-doctoral research positions at Durham University and the University of York, which have enabled her to pursue her interests in plant secondary metabolism and in particular, how plants respond to and detoxify xenobiotic compounds such as herbicides. Her current project at Newcastle University involves investigating the basis of herbicide selectivity in crops and competing weeds