Alex Durrant

• Lead design, optimization, and documentation of nucleic acid extraction protocols across diverse sample types.
• Work with sample types including plants, animals (including human), insects, fungi, bacteria and protists.
• Develop methods enabling long and ultra-long read ONT sequencing, with reads exceeding the 2Mb mark.
• Troubleshoot causes of QC or sequencing failure that can be addressed at the extraction or sampling stage.
• Empirically determine sample requirements for optimum extraction and sequencing performance.
• Assist (when needed) with library preparation for sequencing runs on ONT (and other) platforms.

• Develop flexible strategies under reagent constraints (e.g. during Covid-19) and non-model organism challenges.
• Coordinate with specialists in sequencing and automation to ensure protocol success and integration.
• Serve as project troubleshooter, diagnosing stalled or failed protocols and restoring project viability.
• Contribute to early planning meetings with stakeholders to assess project feasibility and suggest directions.
• Liaise with local research community to source test materials for internal R&D across various sample types.
• Author SOPs and internal guidance materials for lab and automation staff.
• Operate within an ISO 9001-compliant framework, and working towards ISO 17025.

• Maintained and monitored >60 microbial lines for a long-term evolutionary experiment lasting almost 4 years.

• Investigated Cowpea Mosaic Virus shell assembly to identify novel methods for generating empty viral shells.

• Culturing, DNA extraction and PCR of Bacillus and Clostridium in BSL-2 conditions for phylogenetic analysis.