Meet the MBEC team
Read more about the people behind the Manchester Biomolecule Engineering Centre.
-
Derren Heyes, Expert Technical Specialist in Biophysical Spectroscopy
Derren is an expert technical specialist in biophysical spectroscopy and leads the biochemical and biophysical sciences research facility in the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). He has significant expertise in using kinetic and spectroscopic techniques to characterise biomolecule structure and function.
He has developed a range of cutting-edge biophysical tools in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology to understand the mechanisms of biological systems to aid multiple biomolecule engineering projects.
Read Derren's university research profile
-
Kat Hollywood, Expert Technical Specialist in Mass Spectrometry and Separations
Kat is an expert technical specialist in mass spectrometry and separations and leads the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s core facility. She has significant experience in the development of bespoke chromatography methods and the characterisation of small molecules through the application of mass spectrometry.
Read Kat's university research profile
-
Colin Levy, Expert Technical Specialist in X-ray Diffraction
Colin heads the X-ray diffraction core facilities at the University, covering chemical, biological, materials and earth sciences. A macromolecular crystallographer with over 23 years of experience he has supported a breadth of research and amassed over 6000 citations with a current h-index of 43. Working closely with academics he supports single crystal macromolecular structure determinations, serial crystallographic studies and time resolved synchrotron and X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) investigations.
Colin is an elected member of the Diamond User Committee offering feedback and user perspective on operations and proposed upgrades to Diamond Light Source.
Read Colin's university research profile
-
Matt Cliff, Expert Technical Specialist in Magnetic Resonance
Matt has over 20 year’s experience of biomolecular NMR, using it to determine protein structures, dynamics and interactions. His research focus is the mechanism of phosphoryl transfer enzymes, and intrinsically disordered proteins involved in cell signalling and disease. He has recently been developing techniques for NMR-guided directed evolution of single domain antibodies and enzymes.
Read Matt's university research profile
-
Mark Dunstan, Senior Technical Specialist in Lab Automation
Mark is Senior Technical Specialist in Lab Automation
Mark graduated with a PhD in 2005 in Structural Biology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He began his postdoctoral research with Professor David Leys based in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) before joining SYNBIOCHEM in 2015, helping build the automation pipeline for Manchester Biofoundry centred around biosynthetic routes to fine speciality chemicals and novel routes to material monomers.
In 2023 he was appointed Senior technical specialist in charge of lab automation focusing on developing automated workflows and bespoke high throughput solution for lab processes. He currently manages the BioAutomation facility in the MIB and in 2024 was appointed Royce Technology Platform Lead for Automated Engineering of Biology for Material Discovery.
Read Mark's university research profile
-
Alex Henderson, Senior Technical Specialist in Data Science and Engineering
Alex is a Senior Technical Specialist in Data Science and Engineering. He has over 30 years’ experience in data management, multivariate statistics, and machine learning, across a range of spectroscopies and spectrometries. He holds an Honorary Fellowship in Open Research from the University, where he also sits on the Research Data Management committee.
Outside the University, Alex delivers workshops and summer schools on data analysis. He chairs a committee for ISO on data management, and is director of both the International Society for Clinical Spectroscopy [http://clirspec.org/], and also his own company, SurfaceSpectra Ltd.
Read Alex's university research profile
-
Linus Johannissen, Senior Technical Specialist in Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry
Linus Johannissen received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Leicester in 2006, after which he worked as a post-doc at the University of Uppsala then at the University of Manchester. During this time he became interested in using computational chemistry to help biotech research go beyond the limitations of experiment, for example through quantum chemical calculations to study the fundamentals of chemical reactions or molecular simulations to explore the dynamics of enzymes and biochemical processes.
In 2014 Linus became an Experimental Officer in the MIB and is now a Senior Technical Specialist in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. In this role he works with groups across the faculty to help them incorporate computational methods in their own research in order to explore the fundamental chemistry and biophysics that underlie their experimental observations.
-
Rebecca Crawshaw, Senior Research Technical Specialist
Rebecca is a senior research technical specialist in protein engineering at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. She specialises in enzyme design, engineering, and biocatalysis, with a focus on applying directed evolution strategies to tailor enzyme function. Her expertise spans molecular biology, mutagenesis, and high-throughput screening methodologies, enabling the generation and characterisation of novel biocatalysts for a wide range of applications.
Rebecca supports interdisciplinary research across the Institute and plays a leading role in advancing next-generation protein engineering platforms.
-
Ressa Lebedinec, Senior Technician in Biomolecular Engineering
Ressa is a molecular engineer and multidisciplinary scientist with nearly a decade of experience across microbiology, molecular biology, and bioprocess engineering. She specialises in genome editing, strain engineering, and drug discovery, using CRISPR mutagenesis, qPCR, RNAseq, protein modelling, and high-throughput screening.
As Senior Technician in Molecular Engineering, she supports biomolecular methods, training, and collaborative research, while spearheading outreach programmes at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and leading scientific and industry-facing projects.
Read Ressa's University research profile
-
Katie Journeaux, Senior Technician in High-Throughput Robotics and Bioanalytics
Katie is a senior technician specialising in high-throughput robotics and bioanalytics. She has extensive experience in conducting laboratory procedures and operating analytical instrumentation, as well as training colleagues in advanced technical protocols.
Before joining the team, Katie worked as a Senior Research Technician in soil microbial ecology at The University of Manchester. She holds a PhD in geography from the University of Exeter and a BSc (Hons) in biology with a professional training year from Cardiff University.
-
Cassandra Kenny, Project Manager
Cassy is a qualified agile project manager with a first-class honours degree in biological sciences. She has nearly two decades’ experience supporting research projects from beginning to end within higher education. Her comprehensive understanding of both practical operations and strategic planning are key skills needed to translate research ideas into real world action and impact.
