Dr Briony Yorke

Profile

I completed my MChem in the school of chemistry at the University of Leeds in 2009 with Professor Godfrey Beddard, I was then awarded at 4-year PhD Wellcome Trust scholarship at the Astbury Centre for structural and molecular biology with Professor Arwen Pearson. In 2014 I moved to the department of experimental physics at Universität Hamburg and completed a 2 year post-doctoral position before obaining a Sir Henry Wellcome Post-Doctoral Fellowship held between the school of chemistry at the University of Bath and the University of Leeds. Between 2020 – 2023 I worked as lecturer in structural biology at the University of Bradford where I was awarded an Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard grant. In 2023 I joined the School of Chemistry as a lecturer in physical chemistry. 

Research interests

My research is focused on developing new methods for time-resolved crystallography and multi-modal data collection, involving simulataneous spectroscopic and diffraction interrogation of crystalline samples. I am involved in the development of time-resolved methods at national X-ray sources such synchrotrons including Diamond Light Source (UK), EMBL@PetraIII (Germany) and the laser driven plasma source at the Extreme Light Infrastructure (Czechia). I am currently applying these methods to the investigation of photoinduced electron transfer and REDOX chemistry in the human eye lens proteins to better understand UV damage mechanisms contributing to the formation of cataracts. 

Qualifications

• PhD in Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds (2014)
• MChem in Chemistry, University of Leeds, 2009

Professional memberships

• British Crystallographic Association Council Normal Member
• Diamond Light Source Peer Review Panel
• CCP4 Working Group 2

Student education

I am part of the Physical Chemistry teaching section.