Staff news

Personal Chair: Bruce Whitelaw

Bruce Whitelaw has been made a Personal Chair in Animal Biotechnology.

bruce whitelaw headshot

He was awarded a BSc in Medical Microbiology (Virology elective) from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and his PhD in 1987 from the University of Glasgow.

His thesis on “The regulation of the myc proto-oncogene” focused on the molecular biology of gene activation.

He has maintained this theme throughout his career through the development and application of gene expression systems in transgenic animals.

Dr Whitelaw’s first appointment was to the AFRC’s Animal Breeding Research Organisation.

There, he worked on the then novel idea of producing human pharmaceutical proteins in animal bioreactors.

He subsequently worked at the BBRSC’s Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research and later the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh, where he has been Head of Division of Developmental Biology since 2005.

Dr Whitelaw recently pioneered the use of lentivirus vectors for transgene delivery in livestock and is seeking to apply this technology in the field of animal biotechnology.

Specifically, he is aiming to develop novel ways of combating infectious disease in animals and is exploring opportunities to develop new treatments of disease through transgenic animal models.