Prof Mike Ferguson

Mike Ferguson obtained a PhD in Biochemistry (1982) at London University. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York, with George Cross FRS and at Oxford University with Raymond Dwek FRS. He took up a lectureship at The University of Dundee in 1988 and was promoted to a personal chair in Molecular Parasitology in 1994 and was appointed the first Regius Professor of Life Sciences in 2013.
Mike has published over 240 peer reviewed research papers and is known for solving the first structures of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) membrane anchors, which play 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 in this area. He is particularly interested in Translational Research and, together with his colleagues, was instrumental in establishing the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee. He is also co-Director of the successful Dundee Proteomics Facility.

Mike was Dean of Research for Life Sciences from 2007-2014 and continues to play a role in Research Strategy. He led the construction of, and directs, the Discovery Centre for Translational and Interdisciplinary Research, which opened in 2014. He is also a member of the Board of Governors for The Wellcome Trust and the Board of Directors of the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).