I am fascinated by molecular machines which do the heavy duty work in the organism. One such machine is the centriole - an ancient assembly of proteins that exists in all animals. It is pivotal in the separation of chromosomes during cell division. Each day we rely on centrioles to scrupulously conduct billions of cell divisions, while errors can lead to cancer. Yet, we know little about what is their molecular architecture or which mechanisms guard their assembly. In collaboration with Dr Ioannis Vakonakis (Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford), I use a range of biophysical techniques, NMR and X-ray crystallography to characterise individual proteins of the centriolar ultrastructure, and the physical interactions between them. Under the supervision of Professor Deane, I integrate all the available experimental data into a computational model of the centriole assembly, which is iteratively improved with new experimental findings.