Derek Blake

Derek Blake was, until 2007, the Isobel Laing Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biomedical Sciences, and the Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science, Oriel College, Oxford.

He holds a doctorate (D.Phil.) and a Bachelor's (B.Sc. from Liverpool). Blake graduated in Biochemistry and worked on his D.Phil. studies in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford, taking post-doctoral research on the molecular basis of muscular dystrophy.

His research interests lie in the molecular basis of neuronal dysfunction in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and congenital muscular dystrophies (CMD). This led to the discovery of components of the dystrophin protein complex in neurons and identified new genes and pathways that are involved in the pathogenesis of CMD. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship in 1996 and a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science in 2000. Blake is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology and an editor of the Journal of Nanobiotechnology. Blake's research interests include molecular aspects of neuronal function in muscular dystrophies, glycosyltransferases in neurons and muscle cells, the neuromuscular junction and molecular architecture of the sarcolemma.