Profile

Just like we use X-rays to look inside the human body, I use beams that let me probe molecules that are too small for us to see with normal light.   Seeing molecules is cool of course, but my goal is to find the structure and shape of molecules so I can understand how they work in Biology, how they react to different things. We call this Structural Biology. Crystallographers use crystals as their samples (like the crystals of table salt, or sugar, but these are made of proteins or nucleic acids).

Lately I became very interested in studies related to food, like the proteins that keep milk stable while it keeps all the calcium we need (even when we warm it up just before we dunk our biscuits in!). I also study proteins from tropical plants that are extremely sweet. They are so sweet, that 1kg (about 0.15stones) of it corresponds to 3tons (over 400 stones) of sugar!  This may not sound very appetising, but we have all probably eaten it as an ingredient in our food…

My typical day is all about multitasking. My job is split between the UK where I teach, and France where I do research.

At Keele University you will most likely find me in a room delivering a lecture to my students, or in the lab helping them with practical work. I find teaching a fascinating challenge that never gets boring: with technology booming and students always changing, I too have to constantly adapt and learn with them. Podcasts is their latest thing, and some even record my lectures so they can play it again on their mobiles when revising.

In Grenoble you can find me in the lab worrying about preparing fragile, short-lived crystals of biological molecules: there is no recipe that works for all,  so some people call crystallisation an art (when it works), some call it black magic (when the competition does it first). You may  find me in my crowded office writing a paper to publish results, chatting to students through Skype, or marking their tests while munching a ginger biscuit (I bring them from the UK because it is hard to find them in France).

I also help scientists from all over the world who come here for experiments. In fact, that is where you will often find me, in restricted access areas close to the reactor, where the neutron beams can be used for Science and one feels at the center of the world, so close to those flying atomic particles.