I am a multidisciplinary scientist with extensive academic and industrial experience. My work and research is informed by my training in physics, engineering, biochemistry and genomics. I am able to provide innovative and novel solutions to complex problems using computational and developmental approaches.
After obtaining a degree in physics, I worked in the manufacturing industry for several years where I was responsible for the worldwide delivery of high-value scientific installation projects. My industrial experience has made me extremely pragmatic, and results focused. I have a PhD in biochemical spectroscopy and using High Power Computing (HPC) to perform computational chemistry.
I continued in biochemistry with a half-time postdoctoral position in New York before moving to Peru, teaching myself bioinformatics and reorientating my research to genomics, setting up a bioinformatics capability in an established genetics research laboratory, which I applied to the investigation of glaucoma and human populations.
I returned to the UK in 2016 to take up a post-doctoral research position based jointly at the Earlham Institute and Quadram Institute Bioscience in Norwich, working on pathogen evolution which has reset my career trajectory. I joined the University of Leeds as a lecturer in bacterial genomics in July 2022.
Research interests
My initial work concerned the evolution of pathogenicity and its impact on the epidemiology of Salmonella and also method development of tools to detect horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.
However, attendance on a specialised course on experimental evolution adjusted my research focus towards questions of the population genetics of bacteria. To address such questions, I have developed a collaboration developing the application of single-cell whole genome sequencing to in-vitro evolution studies focussing on the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.
I am a strong advocate for public engagement and have written and contributed to numerous blogs and articles about my work as well as school-visits, podcasts, video interviews and the national press.
<h4>Research projects</h4>
<p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>
