Peter received his PhD from Oxford University in 1993, and later completed his postdoctoral training with Professor Colin Blakemore at Oxford University and Professor Susan Hockfield at Yale University. He has been with the University of Edinburgh since 2000, and is currently a Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, the Co-Director of the Patrick Wild Centre for Research into Autism, Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and Intellectual Disability and Director of the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain.

His laboratory uses a range of electrophysiological and imagining techniques to examine the functional, morphological and behavioral phenotypes associated with rodent (mouse and rat) models of single gene causes of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and intellectual disabilities (IDs). His group is also examining whether there is convergence of developmental trajectories for different forms of ASDs/IDs and whether therapeutic strategies need to be administered during the critical periods of brain development.