Research focus
I oversee the scientific and operational management of the TVP group’s murine metabolic and cardiometabolic phenotyping programmes. These cover two key areas: Mouse physiology and metabolic phenotyping in the context of obesity and metabolic complications, and human stem cell research.
Background and experience
I studied for a BSc in Biochemistry at Cardiff University, then worked at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WSI), and the University of NSW (UNSW) in Australia. I have been employed as part of Professor Toni Vidal-Puig’s group working at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) since 2003. I am a certified project manager (Prince2) and holder of two PPL project licences.
Working at the IMS-MRL
My current role includes the ongoing assessment and optimisation of the teams’ resources required to carry out our research according to appropriate timelines and defined budgetary targets. This includes managing our people, our finances and our technologies in a coordinated way. With oversight of >10 scientific researchers, my role has been to continuously review and improve both the design and performance of all areas of our programme, including scientific direction, management and control, compliance, supervision and training, reporting and communication.
Through the use and dissemination of scientific evidence, appropriate metrics, key performance indicators, knowledge and experience, I am involved in the identification and mitigation of process failures in order to improve workflow and productivity, ensure incorporation of best practices, maximize research quality, and ultimately oversee and increase capabilities that contribute towards the scientific output from the team.
Key scientific interests in the context of obesity, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease:
1) Characterisation of murine metabolic phenotypes
2) Adipose tissue biology
3) Mitochondrial dysfunction
