Professor, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen
I am a microbiologist with specific research interests in the bacteria that inhabit the gastrointestinal tracts of mammalian hosts. I studied for my PhD at the Rowett Institute and at the University of Dundee, specialising in gut microbiology and the role that intestinal bacteria play in the breakdown of dietary fibre. Following my PhD I spent eight years at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a leading centre for genomic research, before moving to the University of Aberdeen where I began as a Senior Lecturer and am now a Professor (Personal Chair). My current research uses a combination of state of the art anaerobic culturing and DNA sequencing techniques to better characterise gut microbial communities and shed light on the roles these microbes play both in health and in disease.