Hazel Girvan

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Last updated 20th March 2026

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My research focus is in protein biochemistry and enzymology particularly around cofactor containing enzymes and both their roles in metabolism and xenobiotic pathways and their potential biotechnological applications utilising spectroscopic, analytic and structural techniques in my studies. I obtained my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the University of Strathclyde. This was followed by a PhD from the University of Leicester studying under the supervision of Prof Andrew Munro. Subsequently I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology on a variety of projects linked by the presence of a heme cofactor in each protein. These included studies on flavocytochrome P450 BM3, a bacterial model system for the cytochrome P450 superfamily to further understand its mechanism and broaden its potential for biotechnological application. Studies on DGCR8 (DiGeorge Critical Region 8) a eukaryotic heme cofactor containing protein which is key for the biogenesis of microRNA to understand the role of the heme cofactor in this protein. I also worked on a large collaborative, industry funded project looking for novel synthetic biology routes to drop in fuel production to replace fossil fuels. I joined the University of Huddersfield as Senior Lecturer in Cell Biology/Biochemistry in September 2020.