Karl Burgess MSc, MRes, PhD

Karl graduated in Pathobiology at the University of Reading (BSc Hons), followed by an MSc in Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics at Birkbeck College, University of London. Moving to Scotland he continued with an MRes in Biomedical and Life Sciences, where he was first introduced to the technique of mass spectrometry by Prof. Andy Pitt at the University of Glasgow. After completing his PhD in Proteomics with Andy, Karl undertook a post-doc as part of the Scotland-Wide RASOR consortium for proteomics developments, starting his own lab as Head of Metabolomics at the University of Glasgow in 2009, where, over the next 10 years he developed the Polyomics Metabolomics facility with Mike Barrett, Tanita Casci, Alli Jackson, Richard Burchmore and Pawel Herzyk. During this time he developed standardized methods for metabolomics, quality control, data analysis, and interpretation, collaborating worldwide to solve complex biological problems with metabolomics.

In 2019, Karl moved from one side of Scotland to the other, taking the position of Senior Lecturer in Biological Mass Spectrometry at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to his academic role, he is Impact Champion for the School of Biological Sciences and Scientific Director of the Edinomics Mass Spectrometry core facility. His group specializes in the development of mass spectrometry methods for the exploration of the biochemistry of microorganisms, especially in the area of industrial biotechnology and infectious disease. Karl is interested in developing novel high throughput methods for analyzing microbiological phenotypes at large scale, and strategies for turning the resulting data into meaningful results.