Harryson is a visiting student who joined the lab under the aegis of the KAUST VSRP program. Prior to this, Harryson worked in Colombia for two years at Manihot Biotec lab researching the molecular mechanism of resistance in cassava against Cassava Bacterial Blight. He also did an internship at Purdue University in the Iyer-Pascuzzi lab where he worked on the molecular interaction between tomato and Ralstonia solanacearum, the causal agent of bacterial wilt. In KAUST, he is working closely with PhD student Andrea González and Dr Catherine Gardener on the genetics and role of trichomes in the wild wheat Aegilops tauschii.