James Naismith (chemist)


James Henderson Naismith is Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, Director of the Research Complex at Harwell and Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute. He previously served as Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of St Andrews.

Education

Naismith was educated at Hamilton Grammar School. He went on to study at the University of Edinburgh where he received a first class Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1989. He won a Carnegie Scholarship to work under the supervision of Bill Hunter, John Helliwell and David Garner at the University of Manchester where he received his PhD in 1992 for research into the chemical structure of Concanavalin A and Zinc aldolase. In 2016 he was awarded a Doctor of Science by the University of St Andrews.

Career and research

Following his PhD, Naismith did postdoctoral research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as a NATO Fellow in the laboratory of Stephen Sprang. He was appointed a lecturer at the University of St Andrews in 1995, Reader in 1999 and a Professor in 2001. Naismith's research investigates:
His research has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the European Union.

Awards and honours

Naismith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014. His nomination reads:
Naismith is also Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Society of Biology, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom, an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization and in 2016 was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His nomination for the Academy of Medical Sciences reads:

Personal life

Naismith is married to Rachel Middleton with whom he has one son and one daughter.