Professor Matthew Higgins

Matt Higgins is fascinated by parasites which cause human diseases. These amazing organisms have evolved many tricks to enable them to survive within our bodies. Matt leads a research group which studies how the parasites which cause malaria get inside our blood cells. They investigate how parasites manipulate our immune systems, preventing their detection and destruction. They also use the latest tools of protein design to produce the next generation of malaria vaccines.

Matt studied natural sciences at Christ’s College in the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in structural biology at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology. He started his research group with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2005 and moved to the University of Oxford in 2010. He is currently the E. P. Abraham Professor of Structural Biology and a Professorial Fellow at Merton College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation.

Matt teaches various topics to the University of Oxford undergraduates, including how parasitic organisms play tricks with our immune systems and how we can use artificial intelligence-based protein engineering to design novel therapeutics. He is looking forward to telling a range of stories in his Gresham lectures about the amazing advances of modern medicine and how they make our lives immeasurably better.