Derren Heyes obtained his PhD in 2000 under the supervision of Prof. Neil Hunter at the University of Sheffield where he continued his post-doctoral career studying the catalytic mechanism of the light-activated chlorophyll biosynthesis enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase. Since 2005 he has been a Senior Experimental Officer in Molecular Enzymology at the University of Manchester, where he has been developing new fast reaction methods for the analysis of enzyme mechanisms. His main research interests are in understanding the mechanism of photochemistry in a number of light-activated proteins.

I have been developing a range of kinetic and spectroscopic techniques probe the molecular mechanism of a range of enzymes and photoreceptors. In particular I have a strong interest in understanding the mechanism of photochemistry in a number of light-activated proteins. These include: i). Protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) - this unique light-driven enzyme catalyses the reduction of protochlorophyllide in the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway. We have developed laser-based techniques to solve the catalytic mechansim of the enzyme and are developing new tools to probe protein dynamics during the reaction cycle. ii) Phytochromes / cyanobacteriochromes - these are major light-responsive proteins that regulate a range of biological responses in plants and microorganisms. They contain a bilin cofactor and signalling is initiated by photoconversion between 2 states of the chromophore which is then linked to structural changes in the protein. We are developing a detailed mechanistic, functional and structural understanding of the photocycles of these important proteins.