I am a biophysicist with a background in X-ray crystallography, single crystal spectroscopy and structural enzymology and a strong interest in the development of new methods to probe biological molecular mechanisms. I obtained a BSc(hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Bath (1997) and a PhD in structural biology from the University of St Andrews (2001), working with Garry Taylor. I then did postdoctoral work in structural enzymology in the lab of Carrie Wilmot at the University of Minnesota, working on the biogenesis of the protein derived cofactor tryptophan tryptophylquinone. In 2006 I moved back to the UK to the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds as an independent research fellow, taking up a lectureship in 2011. In 2014 I moved to the University of Hamburg to join the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast imaging as Professor of Experimental Biophysics.