Dr Laurence Boutemy is a French-born biochemist who has been teaching Biology and Chemistry to students of all ages at Norwich School since 2012. In 2023, she also took on the role of Head of Timetable. 

She studied Chemistry at the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL) in France, where she earned her MSc, before completing a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Toledo in Ohio, USA. Her doctoral research explored how proteins interact during DNA replication, a key process in all living cells. 

After completing her PhD, Dr Boutemy worked as a researcher at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. There, she studied how certain proteins produced by Phytophthora infestans, the organism responsible for potato late blight, interact with plants at the molecular level. Using techniques such as protein crystallography and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), she helped uncover how these proteins affect plant defences. She recently contributed to a follow-up study on how one of these proteins behave in solution, which was published in the journal Biochemistry. 

Dr Boutemy brings her passion for Biology and Chemistry into the classroom, using her real-life research experience to inspire students and to demonstrate how science helps us understand the world around us. She is particularly interested in synoptic links between Biology and Chemistry, and how the application of Chemistry and molecular concepts can help us better understand biological systems.