External Scientific Advisory Board
The Scientific Advisory Board of the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre provides world class advice and guidance from experienced leaders to advance the strategic objectives of the MIB.
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Prof. Steve Oliver (CHAIR) Cambridge Systems Biology Centre & Department of Biochemistry University of Cambridge |
Stephen Oliver is Professor of Systems Biology & Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Systems Biology. His research involves both experimental and bioinformatics approaches to understanding the workings of the eukaryotic cell, including in diseased or stressed states (e.g. Alzheimer’s diseases, starvation, unfolded protein response).
Stephen Oliver led the European team that sequenced the first chromosome, from any organism, yeast chromosome III. He continued to play a major role in the Yeast Genome Sequencing Project, and went on to become Scientific Coordinator of EUROFAN, which pioneered a wide range of approaches to the systematic analysis of gene function, using S. cerevisiae. His current work employs a range of comprehensive, high-throughput analytical techniques – transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and rapid phenotyping. He is exploiting genome-wide metabolic models to identify functional modules within the yeast metabolic network and predict epistatic interactions between genes. Stephen Oliver collaborated with Ross King to develop the Robot Scientist closed-loop machine-learning system for functional genomic hypothesis generation and experimentation, and re-engineered the genome configuration of yeast to provide a direct test of the chromosomal theory of evolution.
Stephen Oliver is Editor-in-Chief of Yeast, and is on the Editorial Boards of Molecular Systems Biology and EMBO Reports. He is a member of EMBO, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is an Honorary Member of both the Hungarian Academy Sciences and the British Mycological Society. Prof. Oliver was the Kathleen Barton-Wright Memorial Lecturer of the Institute of Biology & Society for General Microbiology in 1996, and won the AstraZeneca Award of the Biochemical Society in 2001.
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Prof. James H. Naismith FRSE Professor of Chemical Biology School of Chemistry University of St Andrews |
Jim Naismith graduated from Edinburgh University in 1989 with a B. Sc. in Chemistry. As a Carnegie Scholar he studied for his PhD at Manchester University under the supervision of Profs Hunter, Helliwell and Garner. After graduation in 1992, he won NATO fellowship which he held in Dallas in the lab of Prof Sprang. In 1995 he returned to Scotland and has been at St Andrews ever since. At St Andrews he has always worked at the meeting point (intellectually and physically) of Chemistry and Biology. Jim's work has focused on three areas, enzyme mechanism, protein structure at the membrane and anything else where structure can provide an insight.
He has been awarded the RSC prizes Carbohydrate Medal, The RSC Corday-Morgan Medal, the Biochemical Society Colworth Medal, The Leverhulme Prize in Biological Science and a BBSRC career development fellowship. He is a fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh and a member of EMBO.
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Prof. Michael A.J. Ferguson CBE FRS FRSE FMedSci Professor of Molecular Parasitology and Dean of Research Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery College of Life Sciences University of Dundee |
Mike Ferguson obtained a BSc in Biochemistry at The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (1979) and a PhD in Biochemistry (1982) at London University. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York, with George Cross, FRS (1982-1985) and at Oxford University with Raymond Dwek, FRS (1985-1988). He took up a lectureship at The University of Dundee in 1988 and was promoted to a personal chair in Molecular Parasitology in 1994. He became Dean of Research for the College of Life Sciences at The University of Dundee in 2007.
Mike has published over 200 peer reviewed research papers and given numerous invited lectures at Scientific Meetings around the world. He is known for solving the first structures of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) membrane anchors, which play a important roles throughout eukaryotic biology.
His research takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the biochemistry of protozoan parasites that cause tropical diseases, particularly the trypanosomatids that cause human African Sleeping Sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis. He believes in the fundamental importance of working across the Biology / Chemistry interface and he has published extensively on and the design and synthesis of potential drug-leads against tropical diseases. He is particularly interested in Translational Research and, together with his colleagues, was instrumental in establishing the new Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee. He is also Director of the successful Dundee Proteomics Facility.
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Dr. Malcolm Skingle CBE DSc PhD Director, Academic Liaison, GlaxoSmithKline |
Malcolm Skingle has BSc in Pharmacology/Biochemistry and a PhD in Neuropharmacology. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 35 years and has gained a wide breadth of experience in the management of research activities. Part of his former role as a research leader in a Neuropharmacology department involved co-supervising collaborations with academics in the UK, Europe and USA. He has more than 60 publications including articles on the interface between industry and academia.
For more than a decade he has managed Academic Liaison at GSK managing staff in Stevenage, Research Triangle Park and Philadelphia. His role involves close liaison with several groups outside the Company e.g. Government Departments, Research and Funding Councils, Small Biotechnology Companies and other science-driven organisations. He sits on many external bodies including the NC3R’s Board, the CBI academic liaison group and several UK University Department advisory groups. He also chairs several groups including a regional Science and Industry Council, the Diamond (Synchotron) Industrial Advisory Board, the Inner Core Lambert working group on boilerplate agreements and the ABPI group working on academic liaison.
Malcolm has also been awarded a CBE in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of his contribution to the pharmaceutical industry as well as an Honorary Professorship from the College of Medical and Dental Sciences at the University of Birmingham and an honorary DSc from the University of Hertfordshire.
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Dr. Marcel Wubbolts Programme Director DSM White Biotechnology B.V. The Netherlands |
Dr. Marcel Wubbolts holds a PhD from the department of Biochemistry, University of Groningen and was a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Biotechnology at ETH in Zürich. Subsequently, he was appointed as group leader biocatalyst development at ETH.
He joined the Life Sciences and Material Sciences company DSM in Geleen, Netherlands in 1997 and became Manager R&D and Managing Director of DSM Biotech GmbH in Jülich, Germany. He was then appointed as Competence Manager Biocatalysis & Biotransformations at the Center for Advanced Synthesis, Catalysis & Development in Geleen, Netherlands.
Since May 2006 Dr Wubbolts has been Programme Director at the DSM Innovation Center in Delft, running DSM’s White Biotechnology programme aimed at sustainable processes for pharmaceutical, nutritional and materials applications.
He has published over 75 publications and patents in the area of biocatalysis and metabolic engineering.