The Madras College Archive

     


Former Pupil Biographies

Professor Neil Gow FRS, FRSE, FMedSci, FRSB, FIBiol (1957 - current)

Neil Andrew Robert Gow was born on St Andrews Day 1957. He went to school at Madras College and Perth Academy.

He first went to the University of Edinburgh graduating BSc and then to the University of Aberdeen where he obtained his PhD. His doctorate study was on a pathogenic fungus (Candida albicans).

He worked for some time in Denver then returned to Aberdeen in 1984. He advanced to became Co-director for Research at the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology in Aberdeen. In 2018 he was appointed as the new Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter. This appointment was announced with the headline: 'One of the world’s foremost microbiologists has been appointed as the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Impact) at the University of Exeter'.

Career milestones:

  • BSc 1979
  • PhD 1982
  • FRSE 2001
  • FMedSci 2015
  • FRS 2016

 

He is a founding member of the Aberdeen Fungal Group and contributed to building this group to its current status as one of the largest centres of excellence for medical mycology. Recently the AFG acquired MRC Centre Status in Medical Mycology for which he is Co-Director for research (Director Professor Gordon Brown). Under his direction this group was awarded a Wellcome Trust Strategic to coordinate research and training activity and build capacity in the field of medical mycology and fungal immunology across the UK and in developing countries. He holds a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award and, along with Daan van Aalten, a recent Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award. He is a fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences, Institute of Biology, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the American Academy of Microbiologists and is a former President of the British Mycological Society and of of ISHAM (the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology). He is the current President of the Microbiology Society (2016-2019). He was a recent Editor in Chief of Fungal Genetics and Biology and helped establish the new ISHAM journal Medical Mycology Case Reports.

Professor Gow's research has focussed on:

  • Making and breaking the walls of fungal pathogens

  • the molecular genetics of cell wall biosynthesis in pathogenic fungi - in particular the genetics of glycosylation and the fungus-host interaction in relation to immune recognition and function

  • chitin synthesis and the response to antifungal agents

  • directional growth responses of fungal cells

  • the virulence properties of medically important fungal species

  • the evolution, genome biology and genotyping of Candida species.

He has published over 280 research papers and reviews in these areas.