In 2004 I obtained an MSci in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, my degree having included a one-year work placement with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Between 2004 and 2008 I undertook PhD studies with Tricia Cohen in Dundee, investigating the roles played by the glycogen targeting subunits of Protein Phosphatase 1 in the tissue-specific regulation of glycogen metabolism. Following this I took up a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Arno Alpi, working on the molecular mechanisms and biological functions of the Ariadne family of E3 ubiquitin ligases. Between 2014 and 2015 I spent one year as a posdoc in the lab of Leonie Unterholzner looking at cytoplasmic DNA sensing in the innate immune response before joining Philip's group in the MRC-PPU in January 2016.