The Leeuwenhoek Medal and Lecture 2025 is awarded to Professor Sir Mike Ferguson CBE FMedSci FRS for major contributions in discovery science and application to the treatment of neglected infectious diseases.
Sir Mike studies the biochemistry of protozoan parasites, and in particular their glycobiology. He and colleagues established the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee in 2006. This unit has delivered compounds in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials for leishmaniasis and malaria, and advanced drug candidates for tuberculosis, Chagas’ disease and coronavirus. Using advanced mass spectrometry for antigen discovery, Sir Mike’s team also helped develop a low-cost lateral-flow diagnostic for human African trypanosomiasis that is in use in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sir Mike currently serves on the boards of UK Biobank, the Medicines Discovery Catapult and chairs the board of PhaSER Bio. He received a CBE (2008) and knighthood (2019) for services to science.
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