Mike is Regius Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee. He has served on the board of governors of the Wellcome Trust (2012-2021), including as deputy chair (2018-2021), and on the board of directors of Wellcome Leap (2019-2022). He also served on the board of directors of the Medicines for Malaria Venture (2012-2024). He currently serves on the board of UK Biobank and chairs the board of biotechnology start-up PhaSER Bio.
Mike obtained a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from Manchester and London. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York, and the University of Oxford and took up a lectureship at The University of Dundee in 1988. He was promoted to a personal chair in 1994 and appointed the first Regius Professor of Life Sciences in 2013.
His research takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the biochemistry of protozoan parasites that cause tropical diseases. With colleagues, he established the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee in 2006, which has resulted in several compounds in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials and the generation of spin-out companies. Mike is also co-Director of the Dundee Proteomics Facility, one of the largest in Europe, that accelerates discovery and translational science.
Mike believes that academic research should generate new knowledge and, when appropriate, provide returns for its key stakeholders: the taxpayer and medical charities. He has contributed to the growth of the Life Sciences sector in Dundee through the provision of research laboratories and technologies and, most recently, has co-led the Growing the Tay Cities BioMedical Cluster component of the Tay Cities Deal – designed to anchor high-growth spin-out companies in an economically depressed region.
During the pandemic, he served on the oversight committee for the National Core Studies and chaired the scientific advisory group on antibody testing for UKHSA.
Mike is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of EMBO.
