Dr Alice Pyne

Dr Alice Pyne, Senior Lecturer and UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.

Alice’s passion for microscopy began during her time in Bristol, where she completed her Masters in Physics looking at how dental enamel dissolved in “fizzy drinks”. Her passion grew during her PhD in Biophysics at UCL. During her PhD, Alice worked closely with a microscope manufacturer and it was at their headquarters in California that Alice first saw variations within the double helix of DNA on a single molecule.

Alice’s research group develops new Atomic Force Microscopy methods to understand how tiny variations in the structure of DNA molecules affect fundamental biological processes, with implications from cancer to antibiotic resistance. This includes developing image analysis tools that anyone can use - as part of her drive to make science more accessible and open to all. 

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Alice shares more about her research, the development of her open source pipeline and the role of mentors and the impact this can have: 

“During my PhD, I had the opportunity to work with a major microscope manufacturer, Bruker, which was something I enjoyed greatly as it helped me understand how academic research can integrate with industrial research and development (R&D) processes. We worked together to develop new technological developments and to make them available to the field, in particular Atomic Force Microscopy probes for high-resolution imaging. It was during our collaboration, working at the factory in Santa Barbara that I first saw variations in the double helix on a single molecule of DNA. This went on to form the basis for my 2014 paper in Small which I am still so proud of.  

“More recently, we have been able to use these technological developments to perform time-resolved imaging of DNA at the sub-molecular scale, showing DNA molecules twisting and ‘dancing’ in ways that had not previously been possible to observe. This work has formed the foundation of our research vision, to understand how tiny variations in the structure of DNA molecules affect fundamental biological processes, with implications from cancer to antibiotic resistance.

“When I started my second fellowship, I was manually processing all my data - something that is still very normal in my field and is very time-consuming. I knew there had to be a way to make this process much more efficient. I taught myself Python and started developing an open source pipeline which I hoped would be useful across my field. The idea is that by creating a robust platform that we can all contribute to, we can save people time and develop faster as a field through a shared community effort.

“Looking back, I’ve been so lucky to be supported by a brilliant and diverse group of people. They have listened to me and discussed my ideas with enthusiasm and constructive criticism. Those interactions guided me to explore avenues which have made such a difference to my career. My brilliant mentors are one of the reasons I love mentoring myself. You can make a huge difference to someone’s career but also must remember that it's not about trying to mould someone into you, it's trying to help them organise their ideas and find and understand what motivates them so they can take their own path.”

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