Maggie did her first degree in Leeds in Microbiology and Biochemistry. Her PhD was in Bristol on how antibiotics are taken into bacterial cells. She then embraced the gene cloning technologies during her post-doc years in Leeds and Glasgow, working on how genes are regulated. Her first post as a lecturer was at Stirling University, where she first started working with the antibiotic-producing bacteria, Streptomyces. She moved to Aberdeen and her research focused on phage-host interactions and how DNA is naturally moved around and rearranged within chromosomes. Now as Chair of Microbiology at the University of York, Maggie has a portfolio of research projects that range from antibiotic biosynthesis to antibiotic resistance.