Michael recently rejoined the University of Cambridge, where he previously spent time as an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Gonçalo Bernardes. He has developed new methods for site-selective modification of proteins and probing RNA modifications. Now, he uses techniques in chemical and molecular biology to answer questions about the role of mitochondria, redox, and innate immunity in human disease.

Up until 2025, Michael was a BRIA Fellow at Sloan Kettering Institute in New York where he studied the activation and regulation of inflammasomes. Inflammasomes are intracellular receptors of the innate immune system and play roles in host defense and can cause autoimmune diseases. In the lab of Daniel Bachovchin, he discovered the mechanistic basis for the interaction of NLRP1 with thioredoxin.

Michael completed his PhD in chemistry under the supervision of Kit Cummins, where he discovered ways to make phosphorus-containing compounds. Prior to that, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford and worked in the lab of Jose Goicoechea.