I’ll be attending the Heriot-Watt Crucible V in Edinburgh, held over three two-day sessions in various venues over the next couple of months. In preparation for this, all participants have been asked to prepare a poster and brief biography describing their career paths and interests, both in and out of science.
My poster for the Heriot-Watt Crucible V
JMW Biography
1998 – 2001, MA, Natural sciences (Biochemistry),King’s College, Cambridge University. Develop interest in structural biology from working on Heme proteins with a supervisor who previously worked with Max Perutz.
2001 – 2005, D. Phil., Structural biology, Oriel College, Oxford University. Doctoral work on structural immunology of TNF and T-Cell receptor/ligand interactions and structure based ligand design. Training in X-ray crystallography, structural genomics, protein/ligand interactions, and immunology.
2005 – 2010, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Structural Biology Laboratory, Newcastle University. Stress responses of Bacillus subtilis. Looking into the structural basis for the perception of environmental stress by a multi-protein signalling complex. Training in electron microscopy, biophysical analysis, and microbiology. Other projects on Gram-positive cell-wall biosynthesis, carbohydrate degradation, bacterial RNA synthesis, and barnacle settlement cues.
2010 – 2012, Faculty Research Fellowship, Newcastle University. Metabolic compartmentalisation in Clostridium difficile. First steps to independence. Building on my interests in multi-protein complexes in bacteria, their role in disease, and their potential uses as platforms in synthetic biology and biotechnology. Developing interest in open science and public engagement, become STEM Ambassador.
2010, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Represented users of Diamond Light Source (http://www.insidediamond.org) at the 350th anniversary exhibition at the South Bank Centre (http://royalsociety.org/summer-science/).
Summer 2012, Paternity break. Birth of Isobel.
2012 – present, Chancellor’s Fellow, Edinburgh University. Understanding the molecular architecture of metabolic compartments in bacteria. Development of research initiated during Faculty Research Fellowship, exploring potential of synthetic biology. Further training in electron microscopy methods. Greater engagement with open science through http://www.marles-wright-lab.org.
I will be posting about my experiences at these sessions over the next few months.