Dr Simon Moore began as a PhD student with Prof Martin Warren (University of Kent), working on tetrapyrrole natural product biosynthesis, the so-called “pigments of life”. Dr Moore elucidated the anaerobic biosynthesis of vitamin B₁₂ and coenzyme F₄₃₀. In 2013, he joined Imperial College London with Prof Paul Freemont and Prof Karen Polizzi to study the rising field of synthetic biology. During this time, he learned about cell-free transcription-translation (TX-TL) systems. Then, in 2017 he began an independent fellowship (Wellcome Trust ISSF) to study Streptomyces natural products, where he developed the Streptomyces TX-TL system. In 2018, Simon rejoined Kent as a lecturer. He works within the newly emerging synthetic biology for natural products field.