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Much of Associate Professor Jen McComb's recent research has been dedicated towards fighting two of the biggest threats to the Western Australian and Australian natural environments  dieback in the jarrah forest and the cancer-like spread of salinity across our farmlands.
 Thousands of hours of plant tissue culture research at Murdoch University, as well as within the forests and farmlands, have resulted in the discovery of resistant tree species that have the significant potential to reverse the destruction brought about by these two earth-consuming environmental scourges.
Professor McComb, a foundation member of the Murdoch University staff, was, with colleagues from CALM, Alcoa and Edith Cowan University, instrumental in the development of jarrah trees that were resistant to jarrah dieback a fungal infection (Phytophthora cinnamomi) that has been threatening to destroy the environmentally and commercially valuable jarrah forest in the South-West of Western Australia.
More recently, Professor McComb has been focussing on creating a hybrid eucalypt that could breathe life back into Australia's saline wastelands and, in doing so, provide the nation's farmers with a financial return for their revegetation endeavours.
Professor McComb said her research into these two major environmental problems has benefited enormously from the support her research projects have attracted from both public and private sectors.
"When tackling problems of this scale, collaboration with industry and State Government departments is essential," she said.
"It is always exciting to work on a problem with other people and agencies with an interest in the research."
Professor McComb said an additional advantage of the collaboration is that the students involved in the research projects have the benefit of seeing their research results assessed and put into practise by industry.
See also
Cross-bred gum trees give hope
Computer technology to help fight salinity
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