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Last updated 17th April 2024

Dougie graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 1985 with a BSc in Biochemistry and subsequently gained a PhD in Biochemical pharmacology /toxicology from the Medical Sciences Institute, University of Dundee. He then worked as a Medical Research Council Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the department of Biochemical Medicine and subsequently in the department of Molecular Pathology at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Tayside researching the molecular basis of hereditary diseases (such as congenital jaundice) and metabolism of drugs by liver enzymes. From 1992 to 1998, he was a Lecturer in Molecular Medicine at the University of Dundee's Medical School.

Dougie joined the School of Applied Sciences in 1998 as a Senior Lecturer and subsequently became Postgraduate Course Leader for Bioscience, Chemistry and Forensic Science Masters suite of courses from 2005 - 2007.

He became Head of Biological Sciences in 2006. During his time here the number of biological sciences degrees have tripled (including one of the few Medical Genetics courses in the UK) and the first postgraduate bioscience masters course was initiated in 2005. From 2008 he led a major restructuring of biological sciences, forensic biology and nutrition in which 20 new lecturing staff were appointed to lead medical, evolutionary biology, forensic biology and food science research teams at Huddersfield.

Under his leadership Biological Sciences rose to the top 5 position in the National Student Survey and the upper quartile (top 25) in the Sunday Times League Table. The Biological sciences courses at Huddersfield with one year Research placement were one of less than 25 courses nationally to be awarded Advanced Accreditation by the Royal Society of Biology in 2015.

His strategic management of the recruitment of a large influx of new staff resulted in the coalescence of evolutionary genetics and medical biology research groupings, a quadrupling of postgraduate research students and a successful first submission to REF2014.  

Management of Genetically Inherited Disease & Genetic Resistance Testing services

From 1992 - 2002 he managed the Crigler-Najjar Syndrome hereditary hyperbilirubinaemia diagnosis service for UK and European medical centres.  From 2007 onwards he manages a genotyping service for Anticoagulant Resistance polymorphisms for UK and abroad.

Public engagement

His work in the area of public engagement includes public lectures such as

• Cafe Scientifique at local Colleges - Genetic engineering, reproductive & therapeutic cloning
• Public lecture - Cloning and You
• European Researchers' Night on cloning, genetic engineering and 'rise of super rats'.  

Media presentations on genetics and inherited pesticide resistance in 'super rats' include

TV appearances

• BBC1 News - Genetic selection and evolution
• ITV documentary 'Rise of super rats' 

Radio interviews

Over 30 radio interviews including national and local BBC radio, BBC World Service and ABC News.

Newspapers

Articles on his research have appeared in over 50 newspapers worldwide.

Teaching

At Huddersfield Dougie teaches predominantly on honours and postgraduate level modules which he is module leader of such as Applied Molecular Genetics, Bioinformatics, Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, Biochemical Methods and Research projects. He is the University's representative for the Higher Education Academy Centre of Bioscience and serves on the several University and School committees including Research, Management and Ethics. His main academic role is to lead, manage and teach on a suite of twelve undergraduate BSc courses and three MSc courses.

• Dougie is currently engaged in a diverse range of research projects encompassing the molecular evolution of enzymes and the phylogeny of animals and humans. He has published over 30 research papers and 4 book chapters many with over 100 citations in the fields of biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, medical genetics and archaeogenetics.
• Dougie has previously received research funding from the MRC, Wellcome Trust and NHS for biomedical research projects
• Currently he is the University of Huddersfield programme lead for an
• EU Horizon 2020-MSCA-COFUND Doctoral Training Alliance Research Grant - Applied Biosciences - investgating the molecular basis of ageing.