Alice Cheung is Distinguished Professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned her BA in Biochemistry from Smith College and her PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, followed by postdoctoral training at Harvard University. Cheung’s research focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms that underlie reproductive success in flowering plants, in particular interactions between pollen and the female organ, the pistil, that support pollination and enable fertilisation. Her research group investigated how the pistil regulates the pollination process. They discovered several related receptor kinase-GPI-anchored protein coreceptors, regulated by pistil and pollen ligands, as regulators of several key male-female interactive steps that enable fertilisation. Paralleling the studies in reproduction, they also devoted to uncovering a deeper understanding of fundamental signal transduction mechanisms in plants. Among these works, their lab discovered the involvement of RHO GTPases in auxin signalling, a role for a GPI-anchored protein as a chaperone to transport its coreceptor receptor kinase to membrane microdomains, and an extracellular liquid-liquid phase separation process that enables a broadly functional cell surface regulatory mechanism and facilitates plant resilience. These works together build foundations towards improving plant properties important for agricultural productivity.