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When I was seven, I managed to get hold of a screwdriver and take the washing machine apart. My mum went mental! I didn’t know how it worked, which pieces went where, and I couldn’t put it back together again. When I finally got it back together, I had a vague idea about how it worked. I’m still trying to figure out how things work by getting different pieces in the right place, but instead of assembling parts of a washing machine, I assemble the molecules that people are made of into the tiny machines which we all have inside us, and which keep us working normally.
For a long time now, scientists have known the molecules that life is made of, but they don’t know exactly how they interact with one another, and fit together to make stuff happen. Somehow, they form machines which allow us to digest food, move, grow, heal ourselves, sense the outside world and stop us getting diseases. I’ve written a computer program which can help us answer some of these questions. Basically, you can give it two molecules, and it will try and fit them together and see if they can form a stable piece of machinery, and show you what that machinery looks like.

It varies from day to day.  Usually I get the train to central London where I work, grab a coffee and check my emails.  Sometime I spend all day programming, other days I spend reading about other peoples research and thinking about new ideas and directions.  I always go to lunch with other scientists and talk about our research.  Recently I went to a conference in Milan, and was there when they won the Champions League, which was nice!
The most stressful days, when I’m really busy, are when I take part in a ‘competition’ called CAPRI that happens every few months.