About
I am a biophysicist with expertise in structural biology, electrophysiology and complementary techniques, applied to human membrane proteins — ion channels, solute carriers and GPCRs. I use cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography alongside a range of biophysical methods (affinity-selection MS, HDX-MS, MST, nanoDSF, native MS) to investigate the molecular mechanisms of ion transport. A particular focus is how natural cofactors and ligands — PIP2 and other lipids, nucleotides and post-translational modifications — shape transport function, with relevance to epilepsy, neuropathic pain, lysosomal disease and neurodevelopmental disorders.
My work is multidisciplinary by design, drawing on an international network of collaborators in both academic and industrial settings. Functional electrophysiology, the area in which I trained originally during my PhD and postdoc, remains a core part of my work through ongoing collaborations.
Over twenty years across academic institutions and industry. 34 peer-reviewed publications including Cell, Science, Molecular Cell, EMBO Journal and Nature Communications; more than 50 PDB depositions across 10 eukaryotic membrane protein families.
Research interests
- Structural biology of ion channels and solute-carrier transporters
- Influence of natural cofactors and ligands on transport: PIP2 (a phosphoinositide) and other lipids, nucleotides, and post-translational modifications
- Integration of cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography and mass spectrometry (HDX-MS), plus functional readouts
- Translation of mechanistic insights into drug discovery for CNS, lysosomal and metabolic disease
Current position
Director of Translational Research, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery / Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford (September 2025 – present)
Previous positions
- Senior Director — Protein Biochemistry, Structural Biology & Biology MS (Feb 2025 – Aug 2025; promoted from Director and Head of Protein Biochemistry & Structural Biology, Sep 2020 – Jan 2025) — OMass Therapeutics Ltd., Oxford. Built the structural biology and biophysics capability from scratch; led a department with capabilities in biophysics (MST, nanoDSF), X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, and membrane-protein biochemistry including liposome reconstitution, across six drug-discovery programmes
- Group Leader and Principal Investigator — Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford (2016 – 2020). Membrane Protein Structure & Function group; Oxford site lead and work package leader for the IMI ReSOLUTE consortium (2018 – 2020), delivering binder tools and recombinant protein across the entire human SLC family
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow — Vollum Institute, Lab of Eric Gouaux, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA (May 2010 – Mar 2016). Supported by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship and an NIH-NRSA F32
Education
- PhD in Biophysical Chemistry, summa cum laude — Technical University of Berlin, with research carried out at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt (2009). Thesis: Functional significance of Na,K- and H,K-ATPase β-subunits studied by voltage-clamp fluorometry (PDF). Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Friedrich (TU Berlin) and Prof. Ernst Bamberg (MPI of Biophysics, Frankfurt).
- MSc (Diplom) in Biochemistry, distinction (grade 1.0) — Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (2003). Diplomarbeit: Gerichtete Mutagenese im D-Kanal der Untereinheit I der aa₃-Cytochrom-c-Oxidase aus Paracoccus denitrificans (PDF, in German). Supervisor: Prof. Bernd Ludwig.
Selected service
- Treasurer, Biophysical Society Membrane Transport Subgroup (elected 2026)
- Oxford site lead and work package leader, IMI ReSOLUTE consortium (2018 – 2020) — Innovative Medicines Initiative; the Oxford work package delivered binder tools and recombinant protein across the entire human SLC family. Partners included Novartis, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi, Pfizer
- Regular peer reviewer for Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Chemical Biology, EMBO Journal, JBC, Structure and others