Professor David J. Blackbourn

Professor David J. Blackbourn
Professor David J. Blackbourn
Professor David J. Blackbourn

Professor of Virology, Interim Head of School

Accepting PhDs

About
Office Address
Polwarth Building
Foresterhill Campus
Foresterhill
AB25 2ZD

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School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition

Biography

David’s PhD (1990) is in molecular genetics and he has worked on different aspects of virology and immunology including in the USA, where he worked at the University of California (UC) for nine years on HIV and Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), including six years with Dr Jay A. Levy. 

David’s research more recently has focused on viruses that are responsible for causing cancer.  In particular, he concentrates on how such viruses hide from the immune system.  By studying human viruses that have evolved with their host for at least 25 million years, David believes that unique insight into the workings of the immune system can be gained.  This knowledge can then be put to good use to treat immune system disorders.  Techniques include a combination of molecular virology and immunology.

He has either authored or co-authored over £8m in funded research grant awards and published over 75 manuscripts that have been cited over 5000 times (Google Scholar), with two papers cited over 600 times each and a further three papers cited over 200 times each.

David returned to the UK from the USA in 1999 to his first lectureship at the University of Glasgow.  In 2005 he moved to the University of Birmingham and received his Chair there in 2010.  He moved to the University of Surrey to be Head of the Department of Microbial Sciences in August 2013 and in December of that year was appointed Head of the School of Biosciences and Medicine, consisting of four departments, a clinical trials faciility and a clinical trials unit.  He held that position for eight years. 

David is proud to have been appointed Director of the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, commencing January 2022, and from July 2024 Interim Head of the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6703-4497

External Memberships

David is one of three Founding Directors of Ducentis Biotherapeutics (www.ducentisbio.com) established in 2015 to exploit his research findings to create next generation anti-inflammatory and autoimmune medicines.  David serves as a non-executive board member for Ducentis, which has secured c£4m in start-up funding, including from LifeArc.

He is one of three Editors-in-Chief for FEMS Microbiology Reviews (https://academic.oup.com/femsre), which publishes invited comprehensive and authoritative reviews on all aspects of microbiology from leading authors.  FEMS Microbiology Reviews ranked 6th of 134 Microbiology journals in the 2020 Journal Citation Reports.

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Research

Research Overview

David is Professor of Virology and took up the role of interim Head of the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen in July 2024. 

David’s research interests have centred on understanding mechanisms of virus immune modulation and hence what these mechanisms can teach us about immune system regulation.  After over eight years in the US working on HIV and related viruses, his independent academic career began in Glasgow in 1999 and continued at the University of Birmingham.  In 2013 he was appointed Head of the School of Biosciences and Medicine, at the University of Surrey and in January 2022 he moved to the role of Director of the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. 

David was one of three Founding Directors of Ducentis Biotherapeutics established in 2015 to exploit his research creating next generation anti-inflammatory and autoimmune medicines.  After an exit to Arcutis Biotherapeutics in September 2022, he co-founded Dioka Therapeutics (www.diokatherapeutics.com) to create a new intervention for high blood pressure.

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Biomedical Sciences.


Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Biomedical Sciences

Accepting PhDs
Publications

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  • Risk factors in the development of Kaposis sarcoma

    Colman, R., Blackbourn, D. J.
    AIDS, vol. 22, no. 13, pp. 1629-1632
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
  • Separation of decay-accelerating and cofactor functional activities of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus complement control protein using monoclonal antibodies

    Mark, L., Proctor, D. G., Blackbourn, D. J., Blom, A. M., Spiller, O. B.
    Immunology, vol. 123, no. 2, pp. 228-238
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus promotes angiogenesis by inducing angiopoietin-2 expression via AP-1 and Ets1

    Ye, F. C., Blackbourn, D. J., Mengel, M., Xie, J. P., Qian, L. W., Greene, W., Yeh, I. T., Graham, D., Gao, S. J.
    Journal of Virology, vol. 81, no. 8, pp. 3980-3991
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Molecular characterization of the Rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV) ORF4 gene and the RRV complement control protein it encodes

    Mark, L., Spiller, O. B., Okroj, M., Chanas, S., Aitken, J. A., Wong, S. W., Damania, B., Blom, A. M., Blackbourn, D. J.
    Journal of Virology, vol. 81, no. 8, pp. 4166-4176
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus immune modulation: An overview

    Rezaee, S. A., Cunningham, C., Davison, A. J., Blackbourn, D. J.
    Journal of General Virology, vol. 87, no. 7, pp. 1781-1804
    Contributions to Journals: Review articles
  • HIV Tat-mediated transcriptional regulation of proteasome protein cleavage specificity.

    Aresté, C., Blackbourn, D. J.
    The Biochemical journal, vol. 396, no. 2, pp. e13-15
    Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates
  • Dissecting the regions of virion-associated Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus complement control protein required for complement regulation and cell binding

    Spiller, O. B., Mark, L., Blue, C. E., Proctor, D. G., Aitken, J. A., Blom, A. M., Blackbourn, D. J.
    Journal of Virology, vol. 80, no. 8, pp. 4068-4078
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Inhibition of interferon signaling by the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus full-length viral interferon regulatory factor 2 protein

    Fuld, S., Cunningham, C., Klucher, K., Davison, A. J., Blackbourn, D. J.
    Journal of Virology, vol. 80, no. 6, pp. 3092-3097
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Inhibition of neutrophil function by the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus vOX2 protein

    Rezaee, S. A., Gracie, J. A., McInnes, I. B., Blackbourn, D. J.
    AIDS, vol. 19, no. 16, pp. 1907-1910
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus complement control protein mimics human molecular mechanisms for inhibition of the complement system

    Mark, L., Lee, W. H., Spiller, O. B., Proctor, D., Blackbourn, D. J., Villoutreix, B. O., Blom, A. M.
    Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 279, no. 43, pp. 45093-45101
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
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