William Plaxton received a BSc in Biochemistry in 1980 from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) and a PhD in Biochemistry in 1984 from the same institution. His PhD research under the supervision of Ken Storey focused on the role of enzyme phosphorylation in the metabolic adaptations of intertidal marine molluscs to environmental anoxia stress. He was awarded an NSERC Post-doctoral Fellowship to conduct research on plant starch metabolism with Jack Preiss (Dept. of Biochem., Michigan State Univ.). His independent career began in 1986 when appointed as a NSERC University Research Fellow and Assist. Prof. to the faculty in the Dept. of Biology at Queen’s Univ. (Kingston, Canada).