Professor James Whisstock studied for his degree and PhD at Cambridge University. He moved to Monash in 1997. Currently, James is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging. 

His research interests include structural biology and drug development around immune-related complexes; these include proteases and protease inhibitors and pore forming proteins such as perforin. From a molecular perceptive his focus includes understanding embryonic patterning in Drosophila and how the perforin-like protein Torsolike controls activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase Torso.