Leading the delivery of Space South Central, a cluster designed to accelerate space business growth in the South Central region and contribute to UK prosperity.

Responsible for the operational delivery of the Future and Emerging Technologies Theme across the University of Portsmouth. Managed a multi-disciplinary research community of ~800 academic staff with expertise in additive manufacturing, virtual reality, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity; launched the University's first Artificial Intelligence Research Cluster; and worked with a small team to secure over £6.5M in external funding.Projects included; AI and Food Safety, New Technologies for Theatre Production, Virtual Reality in Healthcare Simulations, and Shock Mitigation for Autonomous Boats.

Part of the department's SAT team, assisted preparation for the Athena SWAN Bronze Award submission, which was successfully awarded in 2015.

Sat on UoP Science Faculty Research and Innovation Committee.

The bacterium Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) causes is a highly contagious lung disease in pigs which affects herds in the UK and worldwide, and there is an urgent need for effective therapeutic approaches to combat APP. This project involves developing a novel therapeutic alternative to target sRNA that regulate the bacteria's ability to infect the host. Such an approach effectively disarms the bacteria, rather than killing them, thereby avoiding the selective pressure from which traditional antibiotic resistance originates. This is a joint collaborative venture between world leading expertise in APP (Imperial College London) and an outstanding track record in sRNA research (University of Portsmouth). Achievements:Awarded a place on ICURe Innovation-to-Commercialisation programme, piloted by the SETsquared Partnership and funded by InnovateUK and HEFCE (2015).

Ribonucleases impact the abundance of many mRNA transcripts and structured RNAs, thereby affecting post- transcriptional gene expression. Recently, a link between the enzymatic machinery of RNA degradation in Escherichia coli and citrate, a key metabolite of central metabolism, has been discovered. The basis of this BBSRC-funded study aimed to assess whether this mechanism represents a more widely conserved metabolite-RNase communicative link. Methods used included:• Bioinformatic sequence and structural analysis using appropriate database and software packages.• Protein expression and purification of relevant RNases from H. sapien, S. sulfolobus and S. antibioticus. • Determination of ribonuclease activity using fluorescently-labelled RNA substrates.• Bacterial cell viability assays were used to determine the effect of exogenous metabolite treatment.Achievements:Participant in The Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (2013), a competition developed inpartnership by The University of Nottingham’s Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HGI) and the Innovation and Skills Group at Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

With the recent explosion of interest in transcriptomics, RNAs and their bio-molecular interactions are currently the subject of intense scientific research. Surface technologies are a common method for studying such interactions, but require the surface-immobilisation of the test molecule (i.e. RNA) to a sensor surface for analysis. This project involved working on developing a novel method to tag RNA molecules for sensor-surface immobilisation. Methods used included:• PCR and in vitro transcription to synthesis relevant sRNA and mRNA constructs.• Electrophoretic mobility shift assays to identify suitable RNA-RNA and RNA-protein interactions for furtherstudy.• Design, development and optimisation of appropriate surface immobilisation methodology.Other experience:Demonstrator and advocate for University of Portsmouth School of Biological Sciences Open Days