Mouse airway epithelial cultures

Mike Blackman Biography

Mike Blackman was born in Stockport near Manchester, and obtained a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Leeds in 1981. He went on to work on interferon gamma in Alan Morris' group at the University of Warwick, where he obtained an MSc by research in 1985. Later that same year he took up a post as a research officer in the Medical Research Council's unit in The Gambia, West Africa, where he worked on production of human monoclonal antibodies and the role of antibodies in protection against malaria. It was here that he developed his interest in malaria and in particular the mechanistic basis of host cell invasion by the malaria parasite.

Mike returned to the UK in 1988 to study for a PhD in Tony Holder's lab at NIMR. Following this he stayed at NIMR, taking up a career track appointment and then being awarded tenure in 2000. He also holds a position as Honorary Professor in the Division of Infection and Immunity of University College London.

His research interests focus on host cell invasion by the malaria parasite and other apicomplexan parasites. Research in his lab makes extensive use of biochemical techniques and cell biology, with much use of heterologous expression systems and genetic modification by transfection of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum.

His group collaborates widely with other groups within the Division of Parasitology at NIMR, as well as the Divisions of Molecular Structure and Physical Biochemistry.

He also has extensive extramural collaborations which include research groups in the USA and a network of laboratories across the European Union and Africa which make up the large consortium BioMalPar. He is also Scientific Coordinator of InterMalTraining, a European Union-funded PhD training programme (ITN).

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