Welcome to Reciprocal Space.
I am Stephen Curry, a Professor of Structural Biology at Imperial College London. Few people know what ‘structural biology’ is but in my case it means I figure out the three-dimensional structures from biological molecules in atomic detail, using X-rays and crystals. My main interests are in the proteins used by RNA viruses such as foot-and-mouth disease virus; this work helps to reveal how these tiny pathogens tick.
This blog aims to tell the story of what it’s like to work in science in the UK in the 21st Century, to explore the larger social and political responsibilities of being a scientist and to allow me to expound, more or less randomly, on matters that may be only loosely related to science.
While it was operational I also wrote at the Occam’s Corner blog at the Guardian and have a separate, largely non-science ‘commonplace’ blog. The latter started out as a largely photo-based blog but most of my photos now go to my flickr account.
My writing has appeared in The Guardian, Times Higher Education, The Biochemist, Research Fortnight, New Scientist, at Lablit and in the Open Laboratory anthologies of the best science blogging in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 (2011 was skipped because of a change of publisher — go figure).
I also enjoy producing still and moving pictures. I am excessively proud of my “I’m a scientist” film. I also enjoy history and the arts, but know very little about either.
Email me at s dot curry at imperial dot ac dot uk
