What do you hope to accomplish at the BBSRC?

The BBSRC has long been promoting systems biology, but I have a vision of moving biology forward by taking advantage of Web 2.0 and the instant exchange of literature, data and ideas between colleagues. Specifically, I aim to create a research environment in which a systems approach will flourish to meet the world's challenges — including reinventing agricultural research to increase food security and meet bioenergy needs.

How do you see the future of biological research?

I think science as a whole is going to change completely. An entire epistemological shift is emerging with the ever more powerful Internet. For example, once Google Earth projects are live rather than stored images, it will change how we think about agricultural productivity. If we can build online maps of gene-expression profiles, it will change our understanding of how organisms work. But, at a fundamental level, biologists must build models of systems in order to properly test their understanding of them. In ten years' time, I think, future students will say: “You really did experiments on systems you hadn't modelled? How curious.”

What has been your biggest career challenge?

I think if you are doing good scientific research, you are challenging the known. In every field, the party line has been wrong or seriously deficient. The reductionist strategy certainly hasn't helped us to understand complex systems. Yet, moving biology towards a systems approach is an ongoing challenge because it aims to move past molecules to look at interactions between molecules and towards studying the emergent and novel behaviour of a system.

What achievement has given you the greatest career satisfaction?

We conducted a not particularly goal-oriented study to monitor what happens to bacteria when you starve them until they are dormant. As a result, my colleagues and I discovered a molecule that resuscitates bacteria from dormancy. That molecule turned out to be the first example ever found of a bacterial cytokine, a protein required for its cell growth. The bacteria we studied, Micrococcus luteus, are related to the bacteria that primarily cause tuberculosis. We found that as our molecule is required to wake dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, it may serve as a target for drugs or vaccines.

What is your motto or career philosophy?

Read widely in order to seek the truth, wherever it lies.

What is the secret to scientific success?

That's easy. Find good people with new ideas who read widely, resource them adequately and leave them alone without a lot of pointless administration.