David Minnikin

Image of Professor Minnikin courtesy of the University of Birmingham

We have learnt of the sad news of the sudden passing of David Minnikin, Emeritus Professor of Microbial Chemistry, University of Birmingham.

David Minnikin’s pioneering work during his DPhil at the Dyson Perrins Laboratory with Nicholas Polgar on the chemistry of the lipids of TB continued at the University of Newcastle from 1967 to 2002 and then at the University of Birmingham (in collaboration with Prof. G.S. Besra). This led to the current model of the mycobacterial cell envelope and revealed that constituent mycolates (and their folding processes) create key function in TB outer membrane.