A multi-disciplinary microbiologist specialising in pure and applied microbial ecology; host-associated and environmental microbiota; anaerobic digestion; anti-microbial resistance and bioremediation. Having been inspired to learn molecular biology by lecturers during my BA in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, I undertook a PhD in molecular microbiology with Prof. Charles Dorman in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Dundee, UK, completing the final year at the Moyne Institute of Preventive Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. Prof. Charles DormanAfter a short postdoc in Dublin continuing my work on global regulatory proteins in Escherichia coli, I relocated to the University of Edinburgh via a Wellcome Trust Advanced Training Fellowship to work in the lab of Prof. Adrian Bird on methyl-DNA binding proteins in eukaryotes. Prof. Adrian BirdThis period saw our publication of the first structure of a methyl-DNA binding domain (of MeCP2) and characterisation of its mutant forms which are associated with the neurodegenerative condition Rett Syndrome. I was then appointed to a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship to conduct similar structure-function and genetic studies on the H-NS protein of E. coli and its paralogues in enterobacterial pathogens. We were the first group to discover the dominant-negative truncated form of H-NS, dubbed H-NST, in uro- and entero-pathogenic E. coli. Seeking new challenges outside the confines of molecular biology, I then undertook a 1-year MSc in Environmental Sustainability in the School of Geosciences at Edinburgh, and became fascinated by the role of microorganisms in energy capture and nutrient recycling at the global scale. Supported by a Darwin Trust Research Fellowship, I developed a combined experimental and modelling research programme to study these properties of microbial communities in close collaboration with Prof. Rosalind Allen, now at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany. Prof. Rosalind AllenOur experimental studies centred on using modern molecular methods to analyse a century-old self-sustaining microbial microcosm system, the Winogradsky column, ably supported by Dr. Eulyn Pagaling, now a principal investigator at the James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen.Dr. Eulyn PagalingSince 2012, I have been a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, and took over the role of Programme Director for our taught MSc in Biotechnology, which I helped develop, in 2016. I am also the Academic Coordinator for Year-Long Industrial Placements within the School. Currently, my lab is interested in the basic ecological processes which determine the diversity, functionality and variability in natural microbial communities and in model laboratory systems, and in applying this basic knowledge to improving the performance of microbial bioreactors such as anaerobic digestors as well as in the mammalian intestine. We study such communities using modern genomic, metataxonomic and metagenomic techniques based on next-generation DNA sequencing, proteomics, fingerprinting techniques and subsequent pure-culture isolation.Outside work, I am a devotee of wild places, in which I enjoy camping, hill walking, mountain biking and photography. I also try to play the guitar (badly).Related linksContact This article was published on 2025-12-15
