Rate My Professor Mathew Lewsey

Lewsey's research explores how plants perceive and interact with their surroundings via gene regulation, bridging fundamental science and applied outcomes. His lab at the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food comprises engineers, computational biologists, plant biologists, and genome scientists, collaborating with commercial partners on crops such as tomatoes, cannabis, opium poppies, barley, oats, and peas. He directs the La Trobe Genomics Platform since 2018, overseeing genomic services. Other roles include Node Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space since 2022, which advances plant design for off-Earth habitation and terrestrial sustainability; Director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Network at La Trobe University since 2024; Co-Deputy Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Medicinal Agriculture (2019-2024) and for Protected Cropping (2025-present); Director of Research and Industry Engagement for the School of Life Sciences (2020-2022); Visiting Professor at Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile (2023-present); and co-founder of Plant Synthetic Biology Australia. His work supports collaborative projects, postgraduate supervision, and outreach initiatives.