Edward Rainsford

• Technical Assistant

Edward graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Microbiology in 2000. In 2006 he was awarded a PhD in virology from the University of Warwick. His research focused on the contribution of several non-structural proteins in viroplasm formation and viral genome replication.

Following his PhD, he moved to the United States where he worked as a Research Associate at the University of Virginia studying RNA-protein interactions and negative-strand RNA viruses replication. This research involved using bioinformatics to analyse the solved vesicular stomatitis virus nucleocapsid protein structure to predict the critical amino acids involved in RNA-protein interactions. These predictions were then experimentally tested to reveal the residues critical to maintaining the RNA binding cavity of the nucleocapsid protein, an essential element of the viral replication machinery. After returning to the UK in 2009, he completed an MSc in Management of Intellectual Property at Queen Mary, University of London. During his time as a research scientist he presented at a number of international conferences and published several research papers in virology journals.

Edward joined Jenkins in 2010 and is training towards qualification as a Patent Attorney.

In his spare time, Edward enjoys photography, hiking, music and travelling.