Johnjoe McFadden

McFadden was born in Donegal, Ireland but raised in the UK. He holds joint British and Irish Nationality. He obtained his BSc in the Biochemistry University of London in 1977 and his Ph.D. at Imperial College London in 1982. He went on to work on human genetic diseases and then infectious diseases at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London (1982–84) and St George's Hospital Medical School, London (1984–88), and then at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK.

For more than a decade, McFadden has researched the genetics of microbes, such as the agents of tuberculosis and meningitis, and invented a test for the diagnosis of meningitis. He has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals on subjects as wide-ranging as bacterial genetics, tuberculosis, idiopathic diseases, and computer modeling of evolution. He has contributed to more than a dozen books and has edited a book on the genetics of mycobacteria. He produced a widely reported artificial life computer model which modeled evolution in organisms.

McFadden has lectured extensively in the UK, Europe, the US, and Japan, and his work has been featured on radio, television, and national newspaper articles, particularly for the Guardian. His present post, which he has held since 2001, is Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Surrey. Living in London, he is married and has one son.

In 2006 McFadden co-edited the book Human Nature: Fact and Fiction on the insights of both science and literature on human nature, with contributions from Ian McEwan, Philip Pullman, Steven Pinker, A.C. Grayling, and others. In 2014, McFadden co-wrote the popular science book Life on the Edge: The Coming Age of Quantum Biology, in which he and Jim Al-Khalili further explore quantum biology and particularly recent findings in photosynthesis, enzyme catalysis, avian navigation, olfaction, mutation, and neurobiology.