I am a peptide chemist, working as a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland working on the total synthesis of complex natural product peptides with antimicrobial activity. I recently completed my MPhil then PhD at the University of Adelaide specialising in peptides with defined secondary structure to investigate protein interactions, with a particular focus on targeting the human sliding clamp protein, PCNA. I have extensive experience in peptide synthesis and biophysical characterisation techniques developed through working on a variety of medicinal chemistry projects. I have been involved with chemical synthesis through to protein expression and biological assays, including protein binding or inhibition studies. Additionally, I have exposure to materials chemistry, as part of highly cross-disciplinary projects to develop deployable devices for small molecule sensing. Outside of research, I write blogs for the chemistry education website, ChemBites and am passionate about science communication.