My background centers on the coordination of biological and analytical chemistry methods to explore topics in plant physiology and metabolism, from potato flavor chemistry to herbicide physiology in wheat and weeds. For the INTERACT project, I will focus on metabolite-mediated interactions between wheat and microbes in the wheat rhizosphere. Beneficial plant-microbe interactions provide increased resource accessibility and/or improved disease resistance for the host plant in addition to a suitable growth environment for the microbe. The identification of wheat root exudates that elicit these beneficial interactions despite stress conditions (i.e. nutrient limitations, drought) will guide improvements in wheat resiliency. Optimized methods will also serve as a case study for other plant species.