My research involves the chemical ecology of plant-insect interactions. I am especially interested in genetic variation in plant chemistry and how this affects interactions between insect herbivores (Lepidoptera) and their natural enemies (parasitoids). As a model system I study plants in the Brassicaceae family, which include important vegetables (e.g. cabbage) and oil seed crops (mustards), and their specialist and generalist herbivorous insects. Plant species in the Brassicaceae characteristically produce secondary metabolites called glucosinolates that have been demonstrated to play an important in the interactions with insect herbivores.