Professor Darren Smith is a Deputy Director for COG-UK, Principal Investigator for Northumbria University and is a Personal Chair in Bacteriophage Biology within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University. He directs NU-OMICS the Northumbria University DNA sequencing research facility and is the Microbial Environments theme lead for the Research England Expanding Excellence funded ‘Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE)’. His research spanning over 2 decades has focussed on the biology of lysogenic bacteriophages and their role in altering bacterial function and fitness linked to chronic infection of the lung and gut. He completed both Degree and PhD at the University of Liverpool. Prior to joining Northumbria University, Professor Smith completed postdoctoral research in both Stx-bacteriophage biology in the University of Liverpool microbiology department and the HIV pharmacology group, moving from Stx-phage biology to the impact of nanoformulation on highly active antiretroviral therapies used in the treatment of HIV infection.
