Michael Ferguson (biochemist)


Sir Michael Anthony John Ferguson CBE, FRS, FRSE is a British biochemist and Regius Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee. His research team are based at the School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee.

Career

He was awarded a BSc degree in biochemistry by the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in 1979 and a PhD degree in biochemistry by London University in 1982. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York and at Oxford University. He then accepted a lectureship at the University of Dundee and was promoted to Professor of Molecular Parasitology in 1994. He became Dean of Research for the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee in 2007, a position he held until 2014.
His main research interests concern the biochemistry of protozoan parasites that cause tropical diseases, particularly the trypanosomatida that cause human African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis. He was heavily involved in establishing the new Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee and is also co-Director of the Dundee Proteomics Facility.
He still continues to play a role in Research Strategy 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.

Honours and awards