Staff news

Honorary Professor: Rory Duncan

Rory Duncan has been made an Honorary Professor in the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine.

Rory Duncan

He is a biophysicist who works in the field of molecular membrane biology.

He spent 15 years in the University of Edinburgh Medical School, funded by successive personal fellowships from Catalyst BioMedica and the Wellcome Trust, establishing and developing a variety of single-molecule resolution imaging and spectroscopic approaches for use in living samples.

Professor Duncan joined Heriot-Watt University in 2011, establishing the Life Science Interface Laboratory with a substantial investment by Heriot-Watt and external funders. This activity led to the formation in 2012 of the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering (IB3), which Professor Duncan leads.

The Institute brings together interdisciplinary PI Groups with the unifying aim of applying advances in the physical and engineering sciences to address fundamental life science questions.

IB3 is central in the formation of the Edinburgh Super-resolution imaging consortium (ESRIC), which has brought together investigators from across Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh and serves as a platform for knowledge exchange, high-quality postgraduate training, interdisciplinary research and funding proposals.

Professor Duncan is also Director of Edinburgh Biosciences Ltd, based on Heriot-Watt Research Park, to commercialise and translate biophotonics devices and technologies.