ProfessorDaniel Davis MBE FMedSci

Daniel M. Davis is a Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, and currently the Head of the Department of Life Sciences. He is also the author of four popular science books published by Penguin Random House. His most recent book is IMMUNE HEALTH: A Myth-Busting Guide.

Davis was previousy a Professor of Immunology at the University of Manchester and Director of Research in the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research, an institute funded by the University of Manchester, AstraZeneca and GSK. Having gained a doctorate in Physics, Davis first studied the immune system as a postdoc with Prof. Jack Strominger at Harvard University. He become a Professor of Immunology in Imperial College London at age 35.

Davis's research program has helped pioneer the nanoscale biology of immune cell recognition by employing various microscopy methods, including super-resolution microscopy. Through direct observation of molecular recognition by immune cells, Davis made major contributions to establishing that immune cell recognition is not controlled by a simple cascade of protein-protein interactions as previously envisaged. His research showed that immune cells interact with their target cells through a series of elaborate steps: adhesion, integration of signals from activating and inhibitory receptors, assembly of an immune synapse, movement of the cell’s microtubule organising centre and the mitochondria, restructuring of cortical actin, release of effector mediators including exosomes, detachment of immune cells and subsequent engagement to other targets. Each step enables a discrete point of immunological regulation and crucially, is a potential target for medical intervention.

Davis often speaks at science, literary and music festivals, on radio, TV and many podcasts. He has written several articles for the Times, Obesrver, Guardian, Wired magazine New Scientist and Scientific American. His book, The Secret Body received endorsements from Bill Bryson, Tim Spector, Alice Roberts, Brian Cox, Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan. His book The Beautiful Cure was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and was described by Henry Marsh as ‘one of the best accounts I have yet come across of the nature of biological science and discovery’ and by Stephen Fry as ‘one of those books that makes you look at everything human in a new, challenging and thrilling way’. His first book, The Compatibility Gene, was longlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and described by Bill Bryson in the Guardian’s Books of the Year as ‘elegantly written and unexpectedly gripping’.