Ø  Research interests

I am Associate Professor in Life Science and Healthcare. I have extensive background knowledge in the field of Mass spectrometry, Biochemistry, Proteomics and Immunology, in which I received my PhD degree in 1994, after which I worked in this area for several years in various places including industry (Sandoz (Novartis) Switzerland), and universities in New York, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.

I am originally a lab-based researcher who over many years has moved away from the lab to a more data-oriented post, which has given me a vast amount of experience both in biological experimentation, data acquisition and analysis as well as contextualisation of experimental results. My research involves various aspects of data analytics using an integrative systems biology approach applied to various conditions such as viral (EBV)-linked multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases, cancer and cachexia, and data analysis derived from mass spectrometry and gene expression experimentations. I am also involved in the application of Systems Biology and Systems Medicine and biomarker discovery using mass spectrometry tools in several research areas such as cancer (uGI, colon, bladder), cardiovascular (micro- and macro-vascular), kidney diseases (chronic and acute), diabetes, and other human diseases.

Furthermore, I am the driving force behind the mammalian protein-protein interaction database (PPID), which is a key component in assembling and analysing information relating to protein functions. Currently I’m developing a multi-species proteomic database called PADB (proteomic analysis database [www.PADB.org]), which forms a generic foundation for future projects in the field of data analytics derived from OMICS platforms and Systems Biology, with an emphasis on mass spectrometry.

• Application and impact

My work primarily focuses on Systems Biology and systematic analysis and detailed molecular descriptors of disease, including biomarker discovery and integrative approaches. This requires skills ranging from bioinformatics, statistics, the handling of large data and integration of disparate data, to a profound understanding of biological systems. This area has gained worldwide interest, and I am actively driving this forward by developing my Systems Biology analysis database PADB. The databases and software tools which form PADB are accessible to the global scientific community, and will allow researchers, who do not possess all the skills required to perform de-novo analyses, to investigate complex biological systems on an integrative molecular level. This will also impact on the wider community by translating complex diseases on a mechanistic level, as well as identifying druggable candidate molecules.