My background is in molecular biology/biotechnology and its application to complex multi-disciplinary projects both in industry and academia. I currently lead the Oxford Protein Production Facility-UK), an initiative of the University of Oxford, funded by the MRC and BBSRC at the Research Complex at Harwell. We work in partnership with academic groups across the UK on the production and crystallization of a wide variety of recombinant proteins of biomedical importance. Our research activity is focused on the expression and characterisation of protein: protein, and protein: ligand complexes. In particular, we have been investigating the interaction between β-lactam antibiotics (penicillins and cephalosporins) and their therapeutic target in gram negative bacteria (Sainsbury et al. 2011, van Berkel et al. 2013). Recent results point to the possibility of using structural information in the design of new inhibitors for the treatment of infections by antibiotic resistant bacteria (Ren et al 2016).