Professor Jeff Errington is distinguished for his pioneering studies on the molecular cell biology of bacteria. His laboratory has identified and characterised many genes and proteins supporting fundamental functions of bacterial cells, including cell wall synthesis, chromosome replication and segregation and cell division. In recent years his laboratory has uncovered how strange bacterial variants, called L-forms, grow and proliferate, with implications for the origins of cellular life, cell wall synthesis, antibiotic killing and recurrent infection. Professor Errington founded and directed the world’s first research Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, as well as two spin-out companies working on antibiotic discovery.