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Attended Hymers College:
1957 - 1965
What makes this nominee inspiring?
Professor Emeritus Alan Fairlamb, a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow from 1996-2016, and now in his 70s still works in the Division of Biological Chemistry & Drug Discovery, University of Dundee. From 1975 he was educated in Medicine (B.Sc. (Med.Sci.) Hons, 1968; MB ChB, 1971) and Biochemistry (PhD, 1975) at the University of Edinburgh.
Alan’s passion for science came from the influence of his teachers at Hymers College, notably his biology teacher Daniel McNaughton who introduced him to the wonders of biochemistry through a Scientific American article on “The Mitochondrion: Powerhouse of the Cell.” As part of his medical education, Alan took a year out to study for an intercalated degree in biochemistry. It was there that he was introduced to Dr Ramsay Bowman, a lecturer whose research speciality was African sleeping sickness. Knowledge of this terrible neglected disease and the desperate need for safer drugs was to define the next 65 years of his research career.
After completing his medical training, Alan returned to study for a PhD on electron transport in the African trypanosome at Edinburgh before postdoctoral studies on trypanosomes, leishmania and malaria in the constant search for the “Achilles heel” that could be exploited to develop better and safer drugs against these parasites. This took him to work with notable scientists in Amsterdam (Piet Borst), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Wallace Peters) and New York (Tony Cerami), before settling in 1996 in Dundee.
During his research career, Alan has published over 300 articles and reviews on parasitic diseases covering topics such as: modes of drug action; mechanisms of drug resistance; metabolic pathways; chemical and genetic validation of novel drug targets; and drug discovery.
After completing his medical training, Alan returned to study for a PhD on electron transport in the African trypanosome at Edinburgh before postdoctoral studies on trypanosomes, leishmania and malaria in the constant search for the “Achilles heel” that could be exploited to develop better and safer drugs against these parasites. This took him to work with notable scientists in Amsterdam (Piet Borst), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Wallace Peters) and New York (Tony Cerami), before settling in 1996 in Dundee. During his research career, Alan has published over 300 articles and reviews on parasitic diseases covering topics such as: modes of drug action; mechanisms of drug resistance; metabolic pathways; chemical and genetic validation of novel drug targets; and drug discovery.
A tireless advocate of the urgent need for new drugs for neglected diseases of poverty, since 1985 Alan has served continuously as a scientific advisor to the World Health Organisation, Wellcome Trust, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, MRC, BBSRC, Medicines for Malaria Venture and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. Currently he is a Trustee for the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation dedicated to discovering affordable new treatments for diseases of the developing world.
Frustrated by the failure of the pharmaceutical companies to exploit his scientific discoveries to develop new treatments for these neglected diseases, in 2006, together with Professor Michael Ferguson, he co-founded the Drug Discovery Unit at Dundee that has grown from 20 to over 150 staff under the leadership of Professor Paul Wyatt. Alan and his team of scientists provided the underlying biological and biochemical expertise for drug discovery, which contributed to the development of four experimental drugs now in clinical trials for visceral leishmaniasis and malaria.Among many awards and fellowships of several learned societies, in 2005 Alan was made a Commander of the British Empire for his services to medical science.