John Sidda, a PhD student in Christophe Corre’s group, has been awarded an Early Career Fellowship by the Institute of Advanced Study. During his PhD studies conducted between the Department of Chemistry and School of Life Sciences, his research has focussed on regulatory mechanisms involved in bacterial natural product biosynthesis, leading to the discovery of new Streptomyces venezuelae natural products (Chem. Sci. 2014, 5, 86-89). His tenure as an IAS Early Career Fellow will allow him to develop the methods used for natural product discovery in other Streptomyces species.