Dr David Hopper

PhD

• 1967-70 Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences,University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
• 1970-71 Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester.
• 1971-85 Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry and Agricultural Biochemistry, U.C.W.Aberystwyth.
• 1985-1996 Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry (now IBERS)
• 1970-71 Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester.
• 1971-85 Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry and Agricultural Biochemistry, U.C.W.Aberystwyth.
• 1985-1996 Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry (now IBERS) University of Wales, Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University).
• 1996-2007 Reader in Biochemistry, IBS (now IBERS) University of Wales, Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University). Member of the Biochemical Society ; The Microbiology Society ; The American Society for Microbiology. Member of the Editorial Board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

My main research interests are in microbial metabolism and the enzymology of these processes. Work has focussed on the elucidation of reactions and pathways used by both bacteria and fungi for the breakdown of various compounds to central metabolites, and the purification characterization of some of the unusual and interesting enzymes involved. Most, although not all, of the compounds studied have contained aromatic, alicyclic or heterocyclic rings and have included both natural products and chemicals regarded as man-made environmental pollutants. Currently I am researching the breakdown of fused N-heterocyclic rings that are found in quinolizidine alkaloids.