I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology, with a Major in Zoology and (somehow) a Minor in Religion, from the University of Toronto in 1986. I subsequently studied at the Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire des Eucaryotes (LGME) in Strasbourg France, investigating the establishment of the dorsoventral polarity axis in Drosophila melanogaster. I obtained my doctorate in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Université Louis Pasteur in 1990. From 1991 to 1996, I moved from transcriptional studies to cell signalling, studying mammalian G protein-coupled receptors as a postdoctoral fellow in the Neurobiology Division of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research (Sydney, Australia). During this time, I cloned and characterised several adenosine receptor subtypes and learned about the benefits of wide-brimmed hats and factor 50 sunscreen. Having started my research career at University College (University of Toronto) in Canada, I am now at University College London, where I was appointed as a member of academic staff in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology in 2001, following three and a half years of postdoctoral study in the Department of Anatomy & Developmental Biology and eighteen months as a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Research Fellow in the Department of Physiology.