Name:
Professor Craig Daly
Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Year elected:
2024
Primary professional setting:
Academia
My introduction to pharmacology began as a trainee technician (and recent school leaver) in 1980. I was assigned to the research lab of Ian (JC) McGrath and was immediately involved in the study of alpha-adrenergic receptors and their postulated subtypes. I would eventually complete my MSc (1993) and PhD (1999), by research focussing on autonomic control of the vasculature and then confocal studies of vascular structure and function. During the early 90’s I became interested in the use of fluorescent ligands and confocal microscopy and that interest has continued to today but now incorporates Virtual Reality. Imaging receptor distribution has always fascinated me. We didn’t call it spatial biology back then, but it certainly threw up some interesting observations and led to me helping TOCRIS develop their fluo-cannabinoid (T1117). More recently, I have become interested in molecular docking and dynamics to better understand why addition of fluorescence to various ligands can affect both affinity and selectivity.