[1] Mathesius was born in Germany where she received her Diploma in Biology (BSc Hons) at the Technical University of Darmstadt in 1995.
In 2002 she moved to the School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a Post Doctoral Fellowship from the ARC.
Her research laboratory specializes in investigating quorum sensing, the chemical signalling systems bacteria use to coordinate gene transcription leading to collective behaviour and defining the mechanisms that symbiotic and pathogenic organisms use to manipulate plant development.
They have discovered, that plants using a sophisticated surveillance and response system, can distinguish between harmful and beneficial bacteria and mimic their chemical communication signals in an attempt to thwart their offensives.
[2] This has implications for utilising microbes to alter crop plant performance and for trying to develop nitrogen-fixing symbioses in non-legumes.