Brighton's new v-c, Julian Crampton, has a strong track record in higher education and linking up with industry

Julian Crampton, an expert in venomous snake and spider bites, was this week announced as the next vice-chancellor of Brighton University, signalling the institution's continued commitment to teaching and research.

He is currently professor of molecular biology and special adviser to the vice-chancellor at Liverpool University.

Sir Michael Checkland, chair of governors at Brighton, said Professor Crampton would bring "an exceptional breadth of experience in higher education, a first-rate research record in molecular biology and highly successful involvement with the industrial sector and regional organisations".

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Professor Crampton, who will replace Sir David Watson in August, said:

"Brighton is one of the most successful of the new universities, and I feel privileged to lead it into its next phase of development at a critical time for the sector." The university has a strong record in teaching and research and does well in league tables.

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Professor Crampton graduated from Sussex University, did his PhD at Warwick University and went to the department of biochemistry at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in the Eighties. In 1983, he moved to Liverpool, where he founded and headed the Wolfson Unit of Molecular Genetics at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. In 1996, he founded Liverpool University's School of Biological Sciences.

At Liverpool he has been responsible for regional matters, chairing the North West Universities Association executive committee and its research and strategy development group.