2003 Julian Davies

Dr. Julian Edmund Davies is a British microbiologist, professor emeritus, and Principal Investigator of the Davies Lab, at University of British Columbia. He has long been engaged in researching on the biology of small molecules, especially antibiotics, studying their discovery and isolation from a variety of natural sources: bacteria such as streptomycetes, sediments, mushrooms, and from bacteria that inhabit lichens are employed. His interest in antibiotics also includes studies of the roles of antibiotics in nature; are they used as weapons in inter-cellular warfare, or are they signaling agents that help to stabilize the interactions between bacterial communities in different environments? The antibiotic resistance genes in remarkable genetic structures called integrons is another component of his research.