In 1993 I graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (Hons) degree in Microbiology. I went on to complete a PhD in Virology at the Medical Research Council Virology Unit, Glasgow. I worked in the Structural Biology Laboratories at the University of York before joining Professor Geoff Kneales’ group at Portsmouth University in 2000, where I worked for five years on DNA-binding proteins. I obtained a Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2005 with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble, France in the group of Dr Raimond Ravelli researching macromolecular crystallography and spectroscopy.

In 2007, I re-joined the University of Portsmouth taking up the prestigious appointment of RCUK Fellow and commissioned an X-ray crystallography facility. I was appointed to Reader of Structural Biology in 2012. I have an interest in both the structure and function of proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes. I combine X-ray crystallography with other biophysical methods such as spectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation and small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering.

Structure and function of novel marine lignocellulose degrading enzymes Structural analysis of mitochondrial-encoded proteins Control of restriction-modification (R-M) systems Nucleosome assembly proteins DNA damage and therapeutic mechanisms of the anti-cancer drug Cisplatin Combining crystallography and spectroscopy Prion capture and gene 5 protein