Dr Graham Christie
Dr Christie is is head of the Molecular Microbiology research group in the Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology Department of the University of Cambridge. He was appointed to a lectureship, in Chemical Engineering, and Fellowship in 2016.
After taking BSc and PhD degrees in microbiology at the respective Universities of Strathclyde and Warwick, Graham joined the former Institute of Biotechnology in 2003. He was appointed to a lectureship in 2012, in the now merged Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, where he is head of the Molecular Microbiology research group.
Dr Christie's research interests are focused on the study of spore forming bacteria, ubiquitous microbes which, when starved of nutrients, develop into the most durable cell-type observed in nature. His group use molecular genetic, structural biology and fluorescence imaging techniques to (a) probe the genes, proteins and molecular mechanisms that enable spores to remain dormant in hostile environments for perhaps thousands of years, and (b) to elucidate the molecular biology that underpins the process by which spores germinate and “return to life”. Further details of Dr Christie’s research interests can be found here: http://www.ceb.cam.ac.uk/research/groups/rg-molecular-microbiology
