Anna has been working in the Gunawardena lab for over two years on projects investigating the roles of calcium, ethylene and cytoskeleton during PCD. Of particular interest to her is the topic of her undergraduate thesis – establishing calcium as a key player during developmental PCD in the lace plant. During her time at the lab, Anna has received the Sarah Lawson Botanical Summer Research Scholarship and the Canadian Botanical Association oral prize for her presentation at the Atlantic Undergraduate Biology Conference.

After graduating from Dalhousie with a BSc with first class honours in Biology, Anna decided to go to India for a term to volunteer at a hospital in Tamil Nadu. She also spent an additional two months backpacking through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. She returned as a member of the lab between her worldly travels to continue enthusiastically investigating the involvement of calcium and ethylene in programmed cell death. Anna is currently a first year medical student at Dalhousie and hopes to continue spending time in the lab in the future.