I obtained my BSc and PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Leicester. Following postdoc positions in Berkeley and Glasgow, I obtained my first academic appointment as a lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia in 1991. I was promoted to professor in 1999. In 2002 I moved to the Department of Biology at the University of York as the professor of Biochemistry. In 2012 I moved to the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford to become the 5th Iveagh chair of Microbial Biochemistry. My most recent external job has been chairman of the Biochemical Society (2011-2013).