He completed his undergraduate training in Biochemistry (Hons) at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Londonand PhD in the field of Neuropharmacology with the Ministry of Defence and King’s College, London. He then relocated to Australia to undertake a Postdoctoral position at the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre at UQ, later moving to Monash University where in 2007 he started up his own research group. James holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship, is a member of the NHMRC Research Committee and has a strong track record in the field of neural development and regeneration of the visual system. He heads the Bourne group, with his skills and expertise in nonhuman primate research enabling the group to undertake cross-disciplinary research collaborations which form an important component of translational research to humans.