I have over 23 years research experience in the areas of biochemistry and molecular biology, working on applied phycology projects for more than 20 years.

Since joining SAMS in 2006, I have developed and led on establishing research within the field of marine biotechnology, focusing on the fundamental aspects of phycology, which have potential commercial applications. This has generated 30 successful grant applications and a range of publications; with currently have 40 peer-reviewed papers and 60 publications in total (H factor of 17 and a total of 1700 citations).

My microalgal research has included the working group on the genome analysis of the diatom Phaeodactylum, a systems biology approach to investigating lipid production in a range of microalgal species stretching now into microalgal carotenoids in the ABACUS project.

Macroalgal or seaweed research highlights include the demonstration of seasonal variation in the biochemical composition of biomass, the importance of site selection for macroalgal cultivation linked to the species grown through BioMara, EnAlgae and At~Sea projects.

Research identifying potential environmental impacts of seaweed cultivation and the processing of seaweed biomass for bioethanol and methane production from macroalgal biomass at the end of a biorefinery process for multiple types of bioenergy production.