About
A brief description of who you are and what you do.
This section will only display on your public profile if you’ve added content.
You can update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘About’.
Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.
You’ll be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.
Research
Research interests
- DNA Interactions
- Triplex DNA
- Quadruplex DNA
- DNA Structure
- Footprinting
Current research
My research concerns the sequence specific recognition of DNA by small molecules, oligonucleotides and proteins, and the formation of unusual DNA structures (triplexes and quadruplexes). Compounds that bind to DNA in a sequence specific fashion have potential for artificially controlling gene expression and may be used as anticancer or antiviral agents. Several DNA binding antibiotics are currently used in cancer chemotherapy, and we are seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms by which they bind to DNA with a view to designing new agents with improved selectivity. In all our studies we make extensive use of the footprinting technique, using both natural and synthetic DNA fragments, and have developed this assay as a powerful tool for measuring the specificity, stability and kinetics of ligand-DNA interactions. This has been used to determine the sequence selectivity of several DNA-binding small molecules.
For the past 20 years my work has focussed on triple helix formation as a means for targeting specific DNA sequences. Together with Professor Tom Brown (Oxford, Chemistry) I have developed several nucleotide analogues, which are designed to form stable triplexes under physiological conditions. Using a combination of these we demonstrated the first example of four base-pair recognition of a DNA sequence by a triplex-forming oligonucleotide at pH 7. In order to facilitate our studies on the stability of triplexes, quadruplexes and small-molecule-DNA complexes we developed a high throughput fluorescence assay for determining DNA melting profiles.
DNA quadruplexes can be formed by G-rich DNA sequences, and these may play a role in telomere structure or controlling gene expression. We have studied their biophysical properties studies, examining their stability, structure, and competition with DNA duplexes.
You can update the information for this section in Pure (opens in a new tab).
Research groups
Any research groups you belong to will automatically appear on your profile. Speak to your line manager if these are incorrect. Please do not raise a ticket in Ask HR.
Research interests
Add up to 5 research interests. The first 3 will appear in your staff profile next to your name. The full list will appear on your research page. Keep these brief and focus on the keywords people may use when searching for your work. Use a different line for each one.
In Pure (opens in a new tab), select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.
Current research
Update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’ and then ‘Curriculum and research description - Current research’.
Describe your current research in 100 to 200 words. Write in the third person. Include broad key terms to help people discover your work, for example, “sustainability” or “fashion textiles”.
Research projects
Research Council funded projects will automatically appear here. The active project name is taken from the finance system.
Publications
Pagination
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
-
Next page
Next
Public outputs that list you as an author will appear here, once they’re validated by the ePrints Team. If you’re missing any outputs that you’ve added to Pure, they may be waiting for validation.
Supervision
Current PhD Students
Contact your Faculty Operating Service team to update PhD students you supervise and any you’ve previously supervised. Making this information available will help potential PhD applicants to find you.
Teaching
Module coordinator
BIOL2049
BIOL3073
Contributor
BIOL1024
BIOL1030
BIOL2010
BIOL3013
BIOL3018
BIOL3027
You can update your teaching description in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’ , select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select – ‘Teaching Interests’. Describe your teaching interests and your current responsibilities. Aim for 200 words maximum.
Courses and modules
Contact the Curriculum and Quality Assurance (CQA) team for your faculty to update this section.
External roles and responsibilities
You can update your external roles and responsibilities in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘+ Add content’ and then ‘Activity’, your ‘Personal’ tab and then ‘Activities’. Choose which activities you want to show on your public profile.
You can hide activities from your public profile. Set the visibility as 'Backend' to only show this information within Pure, or 'Confidential' to make it visible only to you.
Biography
Career History
2000-present: Professor of Biochemistry. University of Southampton, UK.
2012-2013: Acting Head of Biological Science. University of Southampton, UK.
1994-2000: Reader. Division of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, UK.
1992-1994: Senior Lecturer. Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, University of Southampton, UK.
1989-1994: Lister Institute Research Fellow.
1987-1991: Lecturer. Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, University of Southampton, UK.
1982-1986: Research Fellow. Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, UK.
1980-1986: Research Associate. Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Academic Qualifications
1980: PhD (Pharmacology). University of Cambridge, UK.
1978: MPhil (Pharmacology). University of Cambridge, UK.
1977: MA Natural Sciences (Biochemistry). University of Cambridge, UK.
Professional Contributions
Former Editor and Senior Executive Editor. Nucleic Acids Research (2000-2021)
Former Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge (2015-2021)
Former Chair Christians in Science
Editor Science & Christian Belief
Professional Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
American Chemical Society
British Biophysical Society
Biochemical Society
Member of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine
You can update your biography section in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select your ‘Personal’ tab then ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading, and ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘Biography’. Aim for no more than 400 words.
This section will only appear if you enter the information into Pure (opens in a new tab).
Prizes
You can update this section in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘+Add content’ and then ‘Prize’. using the ‘Prizes’ section.
You can choose to hide prizes from your public profile. Set the visibility as ‘Backend’ to only show this information within Pure, or ‘Confidential’ to make it visible only to you.