Three academics in the Faculty of Science have been promoted to personal chairs:
Stephen Husbands – Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology
Professor Husbands uses medicinal chemistry to understand the mechanisms underlying neuropsychological diseases such as drug abuse and depression and potentially to provide new treatment agents.
Recently his work, primarily funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH) and the MRC, has been towards therapies to prevent relapse to heroin and cocaine use.
Professor Husbands’ research involves collaboration with colleagues at Bath, the University of Michigan, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Imperial College and the University of Bristol.
He said: “I am delighted to be able to work in such a vibrant department as Pharmacy & Pharmacology, where the breadth of colleagues’ expertise has allowed my own work to evolve in ways I hadn’t anticipated when moving to Bath in 2000.
“Obviously the promotion reflects the quality and hard work of research collaborators, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers I have had the pleasure of working with over the years.”
Ed Feil – Department of Biology & Biochemistry
Professor Ed Feil is interested in understanding how pathogenic bacteria evolve over very short time-scales (months and years), and in particular the genetic changes which shape important clinical characteristics such as resistance to antibiotics or rapid transmission.
His main focus is on the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but he also has interests in bacterial pathogens of animals, including bees and fish.
Professor Feil said: “I am thrilled at this appointment, and am very grateful to all those colleagues I have worked with over the years who have made it possible.”
Will Wood – Department of Biology & Biochemistry
Professor Wood’s research focuses on wound healing and inflammatory cell migration. This work uses the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster as a genetic model, to understand how wounds are repaired and how inflammatory cells are attracted to sites of tissue damage.
Excess inflammation at a wound site causes fibrosis and scarring. A better understanding as to how immune cells sense and migrate toward damage signals produced at a wound site is therefore extremely important and will ultimately enable scientists to design novel therapeutics to improve wound healing in the clinic.
Professor Wood, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, commented: “I am delighted with my promotion and would like to thank all the very special people I have worked with over the years who have made and continue to make this job so much fun.”