After completing my BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow I worked in the Receptor Biochemistry group at the pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis in Cambridge. I then did a DPhil at the University of Oxford in the Pharmacology Department. My doctoral research focussed on neuropeptide receptors and their regulation and signalling pathways.

Following this I carried out post-doctoral research on G protein-coupled receptors, first at the University of Pennsylvania and then at Duke University. I received funding from the American Heart Association and Arthritis Foundation for my research. My research included studies developing techniques to elucidate receptor-G protein coupling events and investigating how chemoattractant receptor signalling is controlled. After progressing to an Assistant Research Professor position at Duke University I returned to a biotechnology company in the UK for a short period before taking up a Team Leader position at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) within Oxford University.

At the SGC, I led a project on large-scale structural biology of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) and also worked on kinases and membrane proteins.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) enzymes play critical roles in a range of physiological processes, and are also known to be associated with several diseases. We use protein biochemistry, structural biology techniques (X-ray crystallography), confocal fluoresence microscopy and a range of in vitro and cell-based assays and biophysical techniques to elucidate the physiological role of the proteins and their involvement in human disease.