Obtaining a PhD in Biomedical Materials from Queen Mary, University of London on osteoblast response to the topography and composition of hydroxyapatite containing composite materials, I moved to Glasgow to join Cell Engineering as a PDRA on EU grant Nanomed. Here I researched how cells interacted with nanoscale features producing early literature on cellular ability to respond to nanotopography. During this time I became focussed on dissecting  how cells processed nanoscale information through mechanotransductive processes. Together, these interests in bone, nanotopography and mechanotransduction led me to apply for a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship in 2003. During this fellowship I focussed on how mesenchymal stem cells were directed to differentiate and to self-renew by nanotopography and this led to a lectureship in Cell Engineering  in 2008. Now, as Professor of Cell Engineering, I am still fascinated by the nanoscale and mechanotransductive processes, but my interests have broadened to include metabolomics-based research and a growing interest in how growth factors can be controlled at the nanoscale to direct stem cell fate.