Dr Alison Parkin, has her own Chemistry lab group at the University of York. She is interested in how we can develop new ways to destroy dangerous bacteria, and how we can harness their useful chemistry. In particular, she is interested in the redox catalysts which bacteria often use to generate energy for life. Alison studies H2-activating enzymes, using electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques to work out how important this chemistry is to bacteria, and whether is can be useful to humankind.