Ali is originally from Newcastle and completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Sheffield. She went on to study her MSc Microbiology and Infection at The University of Birmingham. Funded by the BBSRC, as part of the MIBTP, Ali worked on the multiple antibiotic resistance system of E. coli. She discovered how different aspects of cell envelope biology are coordinated by the system to increase resistance to multiple antibiotics. She is now a post-doctoral researcher at Aston University.