Meet our members
Here we shine the spotlight on some of our fantastic members and celebrate their achievements in the molecular biosciences.
If you're a member and would like to be featured, find out how to nominate yourself or a fellow member on our webpage.
Meet our members
4 members
Professor Clare Hawkins
Professor Clare Hawkins
Professor Clare Hawkins’ radical moment and her commitment to supporting upcoming researchers
In this spotlight we’re delighted to celebrate Professor Clare Hawkins, a Full member of the Society for over 10 years. Clare’s work is focused on understanding the biochemical mechanisms involved in disease development during chronic inflammation, particularly in the context of atherosclerosis, the major cause of cardiovascular disease which results in deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Clare examines how reactive products from neutrophils (usually produced as a defensive pathway to kill pathogens and clear infection) cause damage to host tissue and contribute to atherosclerosis, with the aim of informing the design of novel therapeutic approaches to decrease lesion development.
In this spotlight Clare reflects on a key moment in her career that shaped her research.
“A key moment that shaped my career was as a PhD student, I was investigating chemical mechanisms involved in cartilage and synovial fluid destruction driven by free radicals in rheumatoid arthritis. I used an analytical technique called electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to identify different radical intermediates on glycosaminoglycans and cartilage-related proteins. My main reaction conditions involved hydroxyl radicals, formed by transition metal ion – hydrogen peroxide systems. However, I knew from my reading that neutrophil oxidants, particularly hypochlorous acid, had also been implicated in tissue damage inflamed joints. Hypochlorous acid is the major component of household bleach, so I added some bleach to my glycosaminoglycans one afternoon and ran an EPR spectrum – there were radicals!
This finding was unexpected, as until that experiment, it was well accepted that hypochlorous acid was a two electron not one electron oxidant. That moment shaped the rest of my career, and allowed me to build a career in Australia and subsequently in Denmark. My research continues to examine hypochlorous acid induced damage and developing approaches to modulate its production in a therapeutic context.”
Clare is also an advocate for the value of mentoring and recommends working with a good mentor who works outside your research group:
“I was fortunate to have an excellent mentor from a different organisation at a critical stage in my career and her insight and support were invaluable. As a result, I am an active and passionate mentor for early career researchers in my current institution and more widely through my involvement in scientific societies - supporting others in their scientific journey is one of the most rewarding parts of my academic role. My advice would be to find a mentor if you are earlier in your scientific career or consider offering your support and experience as a mentor if you are at a more experienced career stage. My passion for mentoring contributed to my decision to return to the UK after many years overseas to take up an education-focused academic role at the University of Bath.”
Faisal Ahmad Pandith
Faisal Ahmad Pandith
Undergraduate Member Faisal Pandith on achieving a PRISM Fellowship at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, India
We are very pleased to feature promising researcher and Undergraduate member, Faisal Pandith, in this month’s spotlight. Faisal shares a milestone moment in his research career so far; achieving a PRISM Fellowship at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) has allowed Faisal to step into the unknown and explore a new field and techniques, which serves as a reminder to him that it is important to embrace the unknown and stay open to new perspectives.
“Following the completion of my National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS) Biology Fellowship at HBCSE-TIFR, I was keen to challenge myself further. This led me to apply for the PRISM Fellowship at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). As a nationally competitive and selective programme, PRISM represented an important next step in my scientific development and being selected was therefore a particularly meaningful achievement, especially at an early stage of my undergraduate career.
As a PRISM Fellow at NCBS, I am working on the morphological and molecular diversity of neuromuscular junctions in Drosophila melanogaster. My research focuses on molecular and cellular neuroscience, with a particular interest in understanding how neuronal diversity gives rise to functional differences in neural circuits. I am studying the morphological and transcriptional diversity of motor neurons innervating the flight muscles of Drosophila melanogaster, using approaches that integrate molecular biology, advanced microscopy, and image analysis.
This marks a transition for me as I moved from working on projects in nanobiotechnology and vector biology to tackling fundamental questions in neurobiology, learning techniques such as hybridization chain reaction, confocal microscopy, electron microscopy, and computational analysis. Adapting to a completely new field challenged me to become a faster learner, think critically, and embrace unfamiliar methodologies with confidence.
One of the most meaningful outcomes of the Fellowship was that my involvement did not end with the formal programme. Based on my performance and contribution during the Fellowship, I was subsequently appointed as a Visiting Research Student, allowing me to continue contributing to the project beyond the initial Fellowship period.
What drives my passion is the opportunity to answer fundamental biological questions through interdisciplinary research. Throughout my undergraduate years, I have explored diverse areas including plant biotechnology, nanobiotechnology, vector biology, and biosensor development. These experiences taught me that meaningful scientific discoveries often emerge at the intersection of different disciplines.
Being part of the Biochemical Society has given me the confidence to actively participate in the wider scientific community. It encouraged me to seek new research opportunities, collaborate across disciplines, and continue developing as an early-career scientist committed to advancing molecular and cellular biology.
One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is to never let your current level of knowledge define the limits of what you can pursue. This rewarding opportunity came from stepping into completely unfamiliar fields and being willing to learn from the beginning. I am proud of this milestone because it reinforced my belief that curiosity and perseverance can open doors beyond one's initial expertise and it has strengthened my aspiration to pursue a research career.
I would encourage early-career researchers to value persistence over perfection. Experiments fail, hypotheses change, and progress can sometimes feel slow, but each challenge teaches something valuable.”
Dr Roberta Cacioppo
Dr Roberta Cacioppo
Dr Roberta Cacioppo on shaping your scientific identity
We’re delighted to hear from Roberta Cacioppo (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology), whose work focuses on the mechanisms underlying the interplay between RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) homeostasis and gene expression control, which is fundamentally hijacked in cancer. Roberta’s passion for molecular biology stems from the fascinating complexity of the cellular machineries that dictate life, health and disease, and indeed an important achievement was discovering the first mechanism of quality control of RNAPII that ensures proper gene expression.
In this spotlight, Roberta shares how stepping outside her comfort zones and acquiring entirely new sets of technical skills has shaped her career so far.
“I studied RNA processing during my PhD, but in my postdoc I instead implemented bespoke biochemical assays to study the clearance of defective RNAPII from chromatin, while establishing a high-resolution ChIP-seq method. Expanding my research to computational analysis was a big challenge, but luckily, I actively collaborated with peer bioinformaticians that helped develop custom scripts for analysing RNAPII gene positioning and the nascent transcriptome.
This experience reshaped my scientific direction and allowed me to widen the range of research questions I am now able to answer - it taught me that I don't have to be limited by my existing skill set. This didn't just strengthen my technical versatility; it solidified my identity as a scientist who builds bridges between disciplines and creates tools that elevate the work of the entire team. I now believe that an achievement isn't just about solving a single puzzle, it can also be realizing that no technical barrier is too large to overcome if you are willing to reach out, adapt, and learn.
Presenting my final postdoctoral research on RNAPII regulation at the 94th Harden Conference generated critical and motivating feedback from the audience and inspired additional experiments to maximize the impact of the upcoming publication. I also engaged with multiple group leaders for what promises future fruitful collaborations. Participating in the career panel discussion was important for receiving strategic advice for successfully navigating my upcoming transition to running an independent lab.
The best piece of advice I have been given during my career is to be more passionate about the research question than the answers. Shifting the focus from defending a specific result to wanting to deeply understand a core problem is a powerful approach for several reasons. It kills the fear of being wrong: If an experimental approach to the problem fails, it is not a personal defeat; it is simply one less wrong turn on the way to the right destination. Being anchored to a specific method leaves you behind, while being anchored to the challenge ensures you will always find a way to pivot. When focusing on the question, feedback no longer feels like criticism, but it becomes a tool to sharpen your skills and get to the right perspective. Before rushing to performing experiments, I always find it very useful to first take time to pause and ask if I understand what I am trying to solve. Give yourself the grace to explore, discard bad drafts, and ask dumb questions.”
Roberta will soon be moving to Italy to lead a research programme on the molecular mechanisms controlling gene expression in cancer. Her wet lab will combine multi-omics, molecular biology and biochemistry to understand how the interplay between transcription and RNA processing can drive cancer.
Dr Mark Hanson
Dr Mark Hanson
Dr Mark Hanson on piecing together an evolutionary puzzle
Mark Hanson, whose research investigates the evolution of host-microbe interactions, shared his story with us.
“The literature is full of examples of host-microbe interactions ranging from mutualism to pathogenic, and I think people are very comfortable with what these terms mean. My research happened upon an unexpected finding: things we call mutualists can become rather pathogenic depending on a single host immune effector. That is to say, a single gene, with a known mechanism of microbe control, swings a host-microbe interaction on a knife's edge between mutualism and pathogenic behaviour. This level of host effector-microbe specificity has been found at the level of genes and is greatly affected by common polymorphisms within host genes.”
A key achievement in Mark’s career was deciphering the evolution of the fruit fly gene Diptericin B (DptB) and the microbial mutualist Acetobacter:
“A very exciting project started by my former lab (Bruno Lemaitre's group at EPFL, Switzerland) happened to unlock a whole new dimension of thinking on how the host innate immune system combatted specific microbes. Another group had already found an intriguing interaction between one of these immune effectors (Diptericin A, in fact) and an ecological pathogen Providencia. We had found a strikingly strong interaction of the gene Drosocin and Enterobacter. But it wasn't clear whether these important and specific interactions were just chance: if you kept iterating over microbes and host genes, you'd of course find some interactions that were more potent than others.
That's when we stumbled on the importance of DptB in controlling Acetobacter, which was one of the two canonical "mutualists" of fruit flies. I had previously noted loss of the DptB gene in various fly species, including both tephritid and drosophilid fruit flies, and realised that this loss accompanied ecological shifts away from fruit-feeding. When we checked, the microbiome of fruits is dominated by Acetobacter, but species that shifted to ecologies lacking Acetobacter also lost their ancestral DptB genes. Putting two and two together, DptB is an effector evolved to control Acetobacter common in rotting fruits, and in the absence of Acetobacter, there's no longer selection to maintain DptB in the genome, so it ends up stochastically lost.
I'd found evidence that the effector-microbe specificity we were seeing was not just random chance given enough iterative testing, it was informed by an evolutionary logic: the host immune system evolves silver bullet effectors to control ecologically-relevant microbes. This sounds intuitive, but the prior logic was that these effector genes (antimicrobial peptides) were broad-acting and generic, and so there was no expectation they could somehow specifically target certain microbes so strongly.
This was a real exciting time in the lab, which culminated in a crowning paper in Science in 2023. (Hanson et al., 2023; Science).”
Mark’s research group (started in 2024 at the University of Exeter) now investigates the factors that explain within- and across-species differences in response to the same infections, with a focus on innate immune responses both for effectors, and pathway regulation.
“With support from a travel grant from the Biochemical Society I attended and chaired the immunity and symbiosis section of the European Drosophila Research Conference in 2026. It was an excellent opportunity to network with my peers, and one of the first such international conferences I attended as a new PI. I was able to present posters from my work both on immune effector evolution, but also my secret second life on scientific publishing reform (see Hanson et al., 2024; QSS). I'm a staunch advocate of publishing in non-profit and society-run journals (like the Biochemical Journal!), and this was a great chance to reach out to a community that often didn't think about such things.”
