Professor John M. Girkin is director of the Biophysical Sciences Initiative in the department of physics at Durham University (UK). Previously he formed and led the applications team at the Institute of Photonics at Strathclyde University, and was was one of the founders of the university’s Centre for Biophotonics and the theme leader for the Physics and Life Sciences theme within the Scottish Physics Alliance. Before joining academe, he worked in business--designing the world’s first commercial diode pumped Nd:YAG laser and researching and designing ophthalmic instrumentation including a diode laser for retinal photocoagulation.