She is a professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry[1] at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Quarmby's research has been aimed at understanding the signals and mechanisms of deflagellation, the process by which cells shed their cilia into the environment.

[7] Through her research using the single-celled ciliated green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model organism, Quarmby identified members of the NIMA-related family of serine/threonine kinases that function in deflagellation[8][9] as well as in the assembly and maintenance of cilia.

[22] In May 2010, Quarmby wrote an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen on gender equality in Canadian science and technology, after the Canada Excellence Research Chairs program did not select any women scientists for the nineteen awards it handed out.

[31][32] In November 2014, while Quarmby was involved in the protests of the Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline, she was arrested for civil contempt.

[35] In December 2014, Quarmby announced that she would be seeking the Green Party of Canada nomination in Burnaby North—Seymour for the upcoming federal election.