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I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Biology from Chelsea College, University of London. I then did my PhD which was entitled ‘Factors Affecting Photosynthesis and Research into Possible Functions for Photorespiration’; this was in the area of Plant Biochemistry and Physiology and was carried out at Rothamsted Experimental Station, (PhD registered at the University of London) and supervised by Dr Alfred J.Keys. I was then a post doc research Fellow at the Research School of Biological Sciences, at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; I was there for a year and carried out research studies on the regulation of the uptake and export of metabolites by spinach chloroplasts, working with Dr K.C.Woo in Professor Barry Osmond’s photosynthesis group. Returning to the UK, I then ventured into things clinical and worked as a clinical research associate at the MRC Clinical Research Centre, Middlesex in the Division of Clinical Cell Biology with Professor T.J.Peters. The first project here was in collaboration with Amersham International Radiochemicals and looked at the purification and characterisation of cancer specific isoforms of galactosyltransferase from human samples. I then worked on a short-term project supported by the Cancer Research Campaign looking at the characterisation of gamma-glutamytransferase in normal and malignant hepatic cells. Following a career break of one year to take care of my first child, I then returned to ‘things green’ and was an associate research assistant in the Department of Biology, University College London working on an OECD supported project carrying out metabolic studies of Striga hermonthica, a parasitic plant of C4 crops. I then took an extended career break to raise a family. I was then awarded a Daphne Jackson Fellowship supported by Pfizer Research and Development where I worked in Discovery Biology in the Department of Allergy and Respiratory at Pfizer, Sandwich, UK looking at potential inhibitors of phosphodiesterase 4 activity associated with development of treatment for inflammatory lung disease.
I joined the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent in 2004 as a teaching focussed lecturer in Biosciences. I completed a PGCHE and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.