Dr Dean Rea

July 2, 2014

Dr Dean Rea obtained a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of East Anglia. This included an intercalated year conducting synthetic organic chemistry research within the Medicinal Chemistry Department at GlaxoSmithKline. This was followed by a PhD in Structural Biology within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, focusing on structure-function relationships in peptidase enzymes, primarily involving protein crystallography, enzymology, and molecular biology. He subsequently explored plant circadian clock proteins, microbial aromatic degradation enzymes, carotenoid dioxygenases, microbial transcriptional repressors, bacterial cell wall biochemistry, and antibiotic resistance.

Since 2015, alongside scientific editing and proofreading, Dean has worked in ecological restoration of the uplands in the Peak District and other areas of the UK. This includes tree-planting for woodland creation; hedge-planting for farmland biodiversity enhancement; re-wetting and blanket bog restoration for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and flood mitigation through building stone and timber dams, spreading heather brash, and planting sphagnum moss; and ecological monitoring, specialising in botanical and bird surveying.

Dean has co-authored more than 30 scientific papers, many as first author, and now applies his broad knowledge of the life sciences to scientific editing and proofreading, alongside conducting practical conservation, ecological restoration, and biodiversity monitoring work.