Matt completed his DPhil in Oxford Physics (with Dr Richard Berry) studying the temperature control of the flagellar motor. He subsequently did a postdoc with Prof Ben Berks (Oxford Biochemistry) and Dr Mark Wallace (Oxford Chemistry) exploring the assembly of the twin-arginine transporter using single-molecule fluorescence methods.
Matt’s research since his return to Australia has focussed on the assembly of the flagellar rotor and how simple subunit interactions govern assembly of complex architectures. Matt has explored and characterised DNA origami structures for future in vitro scaffolding of rotor assembly, and used directed evolution in vivo to examine the evolutionary landscape that constrains the adaptation of the stators of the motor.