Dr Piperidis is the world-leading expert in sugarcane cytogenetics. She also has extensive expertise in molecular marker and introgression breeding. She is recognised for her leading role internationally in the chromosome characterisation of Erianthus hybrids. Since 2005 she has been extremely motivated to gain a better understanding of the complex genome of sugarcane and to develop modern strategies to breed better cultivars combining disease resistances important to the Australian sugarcane industry.

In 2019 she developed a new innovative cytogenetic method in sugarcane called whole chromosome painting and for the first time unravelled the complex architecture of many sugarcane cultivars. Her publication record includes many journal and conference papers and book chapters. Since 2016 Dr Piperidis has been the organizer of the International Consortium for Sugarcane Biotechnology (ICSB) workshop at the Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) Conference.