I graduated in 1994 from Manchester University with a degree in Chemistry with Industrial Experience (having spent a year working for Glaxo Group Research).

In 1998 I obtained a DPhil. in Chemical Physics from the University of Sussex where I worked under the supervision of Professors Tony Stace and Sir Harry Kroto.

My research focused on developing ablation techniques to generate clusters from refractory materials and studying their structure and reactivity. I continued working for Tony Stace as a Postdoctoral researcher from 1998-2001. We performed research examining the solvation of metal ions in high oxidation states, employing collision or photo-induced dissociation methods to probe their structures. I was also involved in the development of Ion Mobility apparatus.

In 2001, I moved to the University of California Santa Barbara, where I worked as a post-doc for Professor Mike Bowers. Here I was involved in research which uses Ion Mobility to elucidate the structure of peptides in a solvent free environment, and also studied the effect of adding water to peptide ions. Molecular mechanics was utilised to further explain experimental findings.Many of these projects are ongoing now as collaborative research.

In 2002, I was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship. This enabled me to start my own research group with the principle aim of examining the structure of biological species in the gas phase and relating this to what happens in vivo. Before taking up my fellowship, I spent a year working within the SIRCAMS facility at the University of Edinburgh as an MRC sponsored Proteomics Manager.

Jason came to Edinburgh in 2002 to pursue an undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Edinburgh University. His undergraduate thesis centered largely on simulating interactions between hbd3 and sacharide moities.

He recently started a PhD to continue his undergraduate interests and has quickly cemented his reputation as one of the more eclectic members of the group. Thank goodness, Bryan was beginning to get worried he'd hold the title forever.

Holger is originally from Switzerland but has travelled a great deal in his career as a scientist. He studied genetics in his undergraduate years in Switzerland and then went on to do a PhD in Immunosuppressants. In 1995 he took up a postdoc position at the University of Columbia in new York where he studied the anticancer drug Taxol. Following his stint there, he returned to Europe where he dabbled in aspects of Neuroscience, particularly NMDA receptor binding. During this time of his life he contributed greatly to developing the Protein-Protein Interaction Database (see http://www.PPID.org)

He joins us in the PBRG to assist with studying the C.elegans proteome using high pressure chromotography. We really look forward to working with him.

I graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2005 with an MChem degree with study in Australia. In July 2003 I travelled to New South Wales to spend the third year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Wollongong. During my time there, I had the privilege of undertaking research work at the Centre for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry under the supervision of Dr Jenny Beck.

The research investigated the binding of relevant ruthenium anticancer agents with DNA using tandem mass spectrometry techniques such as ESI-MS/MS.

I returned to Sheffield in 2004 for the final year of my degree and performed my masters research under the supervision of Professor Cameron McLeod at the Centre for Analytical Sciences (CAS). Using the research performed whilst in Wollongong , I continued my work and focused on the interactions of various ruthenium-based anticancer metallodrugs upon proteins. Techniques utilised in these studies were 1D native PAGE, FI-ICP-MS and, thanks to Dr Josephine Bunch, MALDI-MS.

My work in the Barran group focuses on an interesting protein called calmodulin, which is involved in many biological pathways. My work will look at the interactions with the protein upon addition of group 12 metals using mass spectrometric techniques.

I graduated in 2006 from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern (Germany) with a Diploma in Chemistry.

During my undergraduate studies I took part in the ERASMUS exchange programe and visited Edinburgh University in 2004.

I started my PhD in Dr. Barran's group in September 2006. I am currently investigating protein-ligand interactions using Hydrogen-Deuterium-Exchange Mass Spectrometry.

Before university I did an ‘Engineering Careers Foundation Year’ (ECFY) with The Smallpeice Trust (www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk) which included a 3 month work placement in a metal sintering company in Barcelona (AMES, Aplicaciones de Metales Sinterizados). I have also worked at CETCO (Colloid Environmental Technologies) in Birkenhead for 9 months, and had other R&D experience at Lab901 in Edinburgh, Ellesmere Port Sewage Works (North West Water) and Unipath (Bedford).

My PhD (The Salivary Proteome: Developing Tools for Disease Diagnosis) is sponsored by the Carnegie Trust/Caledonian Research Foundation (www.carnegie-trust.org, www.calres.co.uk) in conjunction with P&G. The project aims to investigate the protein content of saliva and identify potential biomarkers for disease diagnosis. This could lead to the development of a simple saliva ‘spit test’ that could be carried out in the surgery or even at home.

I joined the Barran group in September 2007, having received an EaStCHEM prize studentship to fund my PhD research.  My work involves the use of mass spectrometry to investigate protein and peptide structure.  I am particularly interested in the group of antimicrobial peptides known as defensins, which have been shown to have a number of significant roles in nature.

Before moving to Edinburgh, I graduated with an MSci in Forensic & Analytical Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde.  As part of my degree I gained a year’s industrial experience in the Metabolism & Disposition group at Pfizer, whilst I have also benefited from research in the laboratories of Professors David Littlejohn, Peter Halling and Dr Barry Moore.

Since November 2007, I have been working towards a PhD as a Clinical Research Fellow funded by the Medical Research Council.

My study investigates the role of filaggrin protein in skin barrier function and eczema. This study is in collaboration with the Barran group to benefit from the group¹s experience with mass spectrometric techniques.

I hope to employ these techniques to identify filaggrin proteins in skin, as well as look at the functionality of filaggrin in the disease state.