Editorial Board
The Biochemist is overseen by an Editorial Board made up of active scientists, science communicators and science journalists who set and maintain the policy of the magazine in line with the overall Biochemical Society and Portland Press strategies, policies and ethical guidelines.
Science Editor
Professor Colin Bingle
Affiliation: University of Sheffield, UK
Biography: Colin is currently Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Sheffield. He has been at Sheffield since 1997. He graduated from the University of Bradford with a BSc in Medical Sciences and undertook his PhD at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicines, submitting his thesis in 1989. Prior to his appointment at Sheffield, he undertook postdoctoral research at the University of London and at Washington University in St Louis, USA.
Editorial Board members
Katherine Birditt (Student Representative)
Affiliation: University of Cambridge, UK
Biography: Katherine is currently an MPhil student and Standard Bank Africa Scholar on the Basic and Translational Neuroscience course at the University of Cambridge. She is currently investigating the diagnostic utility of plasma biomarkers in early, differential dementia diagnosis. Katherine previously completed a Biomedical Science (BSc Hons) at Roehampton University and will be pursuing her PhD at the University of Cambridge continuing her research into inflammatory markers in neurodegenerative disease.
Dr Alan Goddard
Affiliation: Aston University, UK
Biography: Alan is currently a Reader in Biochemistry in the School of Biosciences at Aston University. Before this, he did a BSc and PhD at the University of Warwick in Biological Sciences before morphing into a biochemist during two Postdoctoral positions at Oxford University and a Lectureship in Biochemistry at the University of Lincoln. His research interests focus on the cell membrane in biotechnological applications, mainly in microbes. He teaches across all levels at Aston and is also the Associate Dean of Education for the College.
Dr Rodanthi Lyraki
Biography: Rodanthi is a molecular biologist and science writer, passionate about uncovering the foundations of human disease and curious about all aspects of mammalian biochemistry. As an undergraduate, she studied Biology in Athens, Greece, then completed her Master's and PhD degrees at the University of Edinburgh, studying the molecular mechanisms of inherited retinal degeneration. She also obtained a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale in France to study sexual dimorphism in adrenal cortex physiology and cancer. After being involved in developing a novel gene therapy for skeletal dysplasias in the biotech industry, she travelled back to Greece, where she is currently working and learning about the fascinating world of cancer genomics and precision medicine.
Dr Derry K Mercer
Affiliation: BIOASTER, France
Biography: Derry is Antimicrobial Programme Head at BIOASTER (Lyon, France) and a visiting Professor at Robert Gordon University. He gained his degree and PhD in microbiology at the University of Liverpool, before working in academia for over a decade. More recently, he has been working in industry on the design and development of novel antimicrobials. Additionally, he has a keen interest in modulation of the role of the immune system in combatting infection and antimicrobial resistance. Derry is also the Honorary Policy Officer for the Biochemical Society.
Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar
Affiliation: De Montfort University, UK
Biography: Maitreyi Shivkumar is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology in the School of Pharmacy at De Montfort University. Her current research focusses on antiviral drug development and understanding host-virus interactions. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge on host entry and dissemination of herpesviruses in mouse models. Following this, she was a post-doc at University College London studying HIV-1 spread between T cells, before joining De Montfort University in 2019.
Professor David Smith
Affiliation: Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Biography: David is a National Teaching Fellow and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His innovative practice has been awarded the Royal Society of Biology HE educator of the year award 2019 and recognised by his students with the Sheffield Hallam University Inspirational Teaching Award for the last ten years. David actively collaborates to develop and disseminate his own and others teaching practices, working both within his university and across the sector in learning, teaching and assessment groups. Through these activities, he builds technology-enhanced learning methods for student engagement in both the classroom and laboratory. Pedagogical publications are centred on student interaction and engagement. His biological research interests combine protein chemistry, cell culture and mass spectrometry to investigate the molecular basis of Parkinson's disease and cancer spheroid models. Studies focus on developing 3D cell culture models and investigating these through proteomics, metabolomics, and imaging technologies.