Dr. Allison graduated from U.C. Davis with a BS in Agriculture. He subsequently spent a year in graduate work in biological science at CSU Sacramento. Here research was directed toward serological procedures and immunology. He returned to U.C. Davis and gained a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology specializing in viral diseases of plants—specifically what happens in plant cells when they are infected with a virus.

In the 1970’s he was approached by a large west coast orchid grower and asked to develop a technique for testing large numbers of plants quickly and economically. It was at this time that the so-called ELISA technique was being developed for applications in human medicine. This technique was applied to the detection of viruses in orchids and Critter Creek Laboratory came into being. The Lab has worked with other crops and their viruses, but has concentrated on extending and refining the application of ELISA to virus diseases of orchids.