UCL FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCES

I chose to do my undergraduate degree at UCL because the biology BSc course was one of the most flexible in the country, allowing a lot of choice in the second and third years. I enjoyed my degree a great deal. It allowed me to follow my interest in biology at cellular and molecular level. I did my third year project in Saul Purton’s lab, where I learned how to shoot genes into algal cells. I enjoyed it so much that I stayed to do my PhD in Saul’s lab.

In 1999, I obtained a postdoc position in Dallas, Texas, where I spent three years studying the inheritance of mitochondrial DNA in budding yeast. During this time I realised that I was really passionate about scientific research and wanted to continue working on fundamental biological problems as a career.

My wife and I returned from Dallas in 2002, along with our Texas-born son, and I took up my current position as a postdoc in the Developmental Patterning lab at Cancer Research UK in London.

I still frequently get together with friends I made during my undergraduate and PhD career at UCL. I can recommend UCL as an excellent place to study if you are interested in a career in biological research.

2002-present: Postdoctoral Fellow in the Developmental Patterning Department, Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, studying planar polarity in Drosophila

1999-2002: Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, studying the inheritance of mitochondrial DNA in budding yeast

1995-1999: PhD in Microbiology, Department of Biology, UCL, studying the expression of foreign genes in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas

1992-1995: BSc in Biology, UCL

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