He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge (Bachelor, 1969), and researched at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology while at Darwin College, Cambridge (Doctor of Philosophy, 1973), and was a postdoctoral fellow in Basle.
He is currently a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at University College London (since 2013). Between 1987 and 2013, he was a Principal Scientist and Head of the Developmental Genetics Laboratory at Cancer Research United Kingdom (formerly Imperial Cancer Research Fund).
Royal Society]
He is a former member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. He has been a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization since 1985.
