Professor Sir Mike Ferguson CBE FRS FRSE FMedSci

Regius Professor of Life Sciences, University of Dundee

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. He believes in the fundamental importance of working across the Biology / Chemistry interface and is particularly interested in Translational Research. 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, including his own contributions to diagnostic devices for human African trypanosomiasis.

Mike believes that academic research should generate new knowledge and, when appropriate, provide returns for its key stakeholder, the taxpayer. 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 this economically depressed region of the UK.  

Mike served on the Board of Governors (2012-2021), and as its Deputy Chair (2018-2021), of The Wellcome Trust and as member of the Board of Directors of the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) (2012-2024) and of Wellcome Leap (2019-2022). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of UK Biobank (2022-present), the Medicines Discovery Catapult (2025-present) and chairs the board of PhaSER Bio.

During the pandemic, he has advised government and the DHSC on antibody testing and served on the oversight committee for the National Core Studies.