Alison’s scientific background is in biomedical sciences and bioinformatics. She read for a degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Durham, UK. Having become interested in the then new field of bioinformatics, she then decided to do a Masters in Information Technology at Teesside University, UK. She went on to study at the University of Reading, UK completing a bioinformatics-based PhD on investigating the effects of mutations on the structure of p53, before working for a time in academia, including 8 years as the curator of the CATH protein classification database. After eventually deciding to pursue a career in scientific publishing, she joined BioMed Central in 2014, initially as a Database Editor for the ISRCTN clinical trial registry. Alison joined the BMC series in 2016 and became the Editor for BMC Biomedical Engineering in 2021. Alison is also a editor for the BMC-series blog and is based in Berlin.