Professor Jeff Errington has been recognised for the profound implications his work has had for the research community and wider society.  

Professor Errington has been awarded the Novartis Prize for his outstanding contributions to our understanding of bacterial cell biology from the Biochemical Society, the UK’s largest discipline-based learned society in the biosciences.

In announcing the prize, the society also remarked on his role as a leader in translating basic research into drug discovery, and in promoting bacteriology in the UK. The area has been higlighted this week by the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, who has warned that antibiotic resistance is as much of a risk as terrorism.  

Professor Errington said: “This award recognises the work my lab has done over many years on basic biochemical functions in bacterial cells. I hope that we will soon be able to translate our findings in ways that will impact on the future development of novel antibiotics.” 

Moving to Newcastle University in 2005, Professor Errington became Director of the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biosciences. He founded the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology in 2007, which has since become a world leading centre for microbial research with a strong interest in aiding the discovery of the next generation of antibiotics.  His lab is best known for its ground breaking work on the bacterial cell cycle and cell morphogenesis. 

Information on his recent Cell paper on L-form bacteria and insights into primordial cell division can be found on the ICaMB blog.

published on: 15 March 2013