I studied for my Bsc in Microbiology at the Life Sciences Department of the University of Liverpool (2013). I remained a part of the university by completing my PhD (2018) at the Institute of Infection and Global Health. During my PhD I worked in close collaboration with Public Health England as the funding body of my research project.

In my PhD I developed an assay for the absolute quantitation of Human Norovirus (HuNoV) in clinical specimens, and an enrichment protocol prior to whole genome sequencing (WGS). The enrichment protocol meant I was able to examine the HuNoV population diversity over the course of chronic and acute HuNoV infection, and then link this to any secretory antibody response toward Virus-like particles (VLPs) I had designed. I also had the opportunity to look more broadly at the benefits and disadvantages of different sequencing technologies in tracking virus transmission during outbreaks.