Malcolm White

Prof Malcolm White is a Professor in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, leading research on bacterial antiviral defense systems. His work focuses on CRISPR-Cas and CBASS systems, investigating cyclic nucleotide signaling mechanisms and viral countermeasures. He holds academic qualifications from the University of Edinburgh (PhD) and the University of Aberdeen (BSc).

Research Interests: Discovery and molecular mechanisms of bacterial defense systems using multidisciplinary approaches including molecular biology, biochemistry, and structural biology. Industrial applications include developing diagnostic tools from CRISPR components.

Recent research highlights include identifying cyclic oligoadenylate (cOA) signaling pathways in type III CRISPR systems and characterizing viral anti-CRISPR proteins. His team also explores CBASS systems linked to human innate immunity proteins.

• Grants & Projects: Multi-layered bacterial genome defenses (BBSRC), Supermolecular structure predictions (EPSRC), CBASS (ERC)
• Key Awards: Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award (2014), EMBO Membership (2010), RSE Fellowship (2008)

Labs/Teams: White Lab focuses on CRISPR systems, with collaborations in structural biology and virology. Active in international conferences and journal editorial boards.