Dr Denis Alexander Email: dra24@hermes.cam.ac.uk

Dr Denis Alexander is the Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, where he is a Fellow. Dr Alexander was previously Chairman of the Molecular Immunology Programme and Head of the Laboratory of Lymphocyte Signalling and Development at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge. Prior to that Dr Alexander was at the Imperial Cancer Research Laboratories in London (now Cancer Research UK), and spent 15 years developing university departments and laboratories overseas, latterly as Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Medical Faculty of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where he helped to establish the National Unit of Human Genetics. Dr Alexander was initially an Open Scholar at Oxford reading Biochemistry, before obtaining a PhD in Neurochemistry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

Dr Alexander writes, lectures and broadcasts widely in the field of science and religion. Since 1992 he has been Editor of the journal Science & Christian Belief, and currently serves on the National Committee of Christians in Science and as a member of the International Society for Science and Religion.

Recent selected publications in science and religion

• Alexander, D. R. (2001) 'Rebuilding the Matrix - Science and Faith in the 21st Century', Oxford: Lion Publishing, hb 512 pp. pb edn 2002. US hb edn 2003; French edn 2004.
• Alexander, D.R. and White R.S. (2004) ‘Beyond Belief – Science, Faith and Ethical Challenges’ Oxford: Lion Publishing.
• Alexander D.R. (2004) ‘Science, Faith and Human Values’ in D. Lorimer (ed) ‘Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality’, Exeter: Imprint Academic.
• Alexander, D.R. (Ed + Chapter). (2005) ‘Can We Know Anything? Science, Faith and Postmodernity’, Leicester: Apollos.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) ‘Evolutionary biology and the purposes of God’ in B. Nicolescu and M. Stavinschi (eds) Transdisciplinary Approaches in the Dialogue Between Science, Art, and Religion, Bucharest: Curtea Veche.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) ‘Science and religion – negotiating the 21st century rapids’, in A. Bentley (ed) The Edge of Reason, London: Continuum.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) ‘Art, Science and Flatland’, chapter in Cryptosphere, accompanying sculpture exhibition by Simeon Nelson at the Royal Geographical Society, London: Parabola.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) ‘Creation or Evolution – Do We Have to Choose?’, Oxford: Monarch.

Recent selected science publications

• Ogilvy, S., Louis-Dit-Sully, C., Cassady, R.L., Alexander, D.R. and Holmes, N. (2003) J.Immunol. 171:1792-1800. “Either of the CD45RB and CD45R0 isoforms are effective in restoring T cell, but not B cell, development and function in CD45-null mice”.
• Turner S.D., Tooze R., Maclennan K, and Alexander D.R. (2003) Oncogene 22: 7750-61 “Vav-promoter regulated oncogenic fusion protein NPM-ALK in transgenic mice causes B-cell lymphomas with hyperactive Jun Kinase”.
• Zhao, R., Yang, F.-T., and Alexander, D.R. (2004). Cancer Cell, 5: 37-49. “An oncogenic tyrosine kinase inhibits DNA repair and DNA damage-induced Bcl-xL deamidation in T cell transformation”.
• Alexander, D.R. (2004) Cell Cycle 3: 584-7 “Oncogenic tyrosine kinases, DNA repair and survival”.
• Alexander, D.R. (2005) “Biological validation of the CD45 tyrosine phosphatase as a pharmaceutical target” in L.A.Pinna and P.W.Cohen (eds) ‘Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology’, Springer.
• Turner, S.D. and Alexander, D.R. (2005) Leukaemia 7: 1128-1134. “What have we learnt from mouse models of NPM-ALK induced lymphomagenesis?”
• Elliott, J.I., Surprenant, A., Marelli-Berg, F.M., Cooper, J.C., Cassady-Cain, R.L., Wooding, C., Linton, K., Alexander, D.R. and Higgins, C.F. (2005). Nat. Cell. Biol. 7: 808-816. “Membrane phosphatidylserine distribution as a non-apoptotic signaling mechanism in lymphocytes”.
• Salmond, R.J., Huyer, G., Kotsoni, A., Clements, L. and Alexander, D.R. (2005) J. Immunol. 2005, 175: 6498–6508. ”The src Homology 2 Domain-Containing Tyrosine Phosphatase 2 Regulates Primary T-Dependent Immune Responses and Th Cell Differentiation”.
• Turner S.D. and Alexander, D.R. (2006). Leukemia 20: 572-82. “Fusion Tyrosine Kinase Mediated Signalling Pathways in the Transformation of Haematopoietic Cells”.
• Zhao,, R., Oxley, D., Smith, T.S., Follows, G.A., Green, A.R. and Alexander, D.R. (2007) Plos Biology, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050001. ‘DNA Damage-induced Bcl-xL Deamidation is Mediated by NHE-1 Antiport Regulated Intracellular pH’.
• McNeill, L. Salmond, R.J. Cooper, J.C., Carret, C.K., Cassady-Cain, R.L., Roche-Molina, M., Tandon, P., Holmes, N. and Alexander, D.R. (2007) Immunity 27: 425-437. ‘The differential regulation by CD45 of Lck kinase phosphorylation sites is critical for TCR signalling thresholds’.
• Rider, D.A., Havenith, C.E.G., de Ridder, R., Schuurman, J., Favre, C., Cooper, J.C., Walker, S., Baadsgaard, O., Marschner, S., van de Winkel, J.G.J., Cambier, J., Parren, P.W.H.I. and Alexander, D.R. (2007) Cancer Res. 67: 9945-9953. ‘A human CD4 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of T cell lymphoma combines inhibition of T cell signaling by a dual mechanism with potent Fc-dependent effector activity’.
• Zhao, R., Follows, G.A., Beer, P.A., Scott, L.M., Huntly, B.J.P, Green, A.R. and Alexander, D.R. (2008). New England J. Medicine, 359: 2778-2789. ‘Inhibition of the Bcl-xL deamidation pathway in myeloproliferative disorders’.