Professor Irwin McLeanPhD DSc FRS FRSE FMedSci MAE FRSB FRSA

Irwin McLean is Emeritus Professor of Genetic Medicine at The University of Dundee and Visiting Professor at Trinity College, Dublin.  Currently, Irwin is also the Schwartz Professor of Genetic Medicine – working voluntarily (and remotely) as resident senior scientist for the international skin disease charity PC Project.  

     Irwin's research group identified the causative genes for a large number of human skin diseases, including a number of disorders of keratins and associated epithelial structural proteins (e.g. Nature Genetics 11:450-452, 1995; Nature Genetics 13:450-457 1996; Nature Genetics 16:184-187 1997; New England J Med 351:2087-2100, 2004).  Importantly, he discovered the causative genes for the painful and highly debilitating skin disorder pachyonychia congenita (PC; Nature Genetics 9:273-278, 1995).  Consequently, he has had a long-standing interest in the genetic basis of skin fragility disorders as well as the development of therapy for this group of rare diseases, which are incurable at the present time.  Irwin has authored more than 335 publications, including many in the top-ranked genetics and dermatology journals, with more than 45,000 citations (July 2024).  His publication h-factor is 107 (as of July 2024). 

     In 2005/6, the McLean group identified the filaggrin gene (FLG) as the cause of the common dry skin condition ichthyosis vulgaris and also showed that inherited filaggrin deficiency – affecting about 1 billion people worldwide – represents the major genetic predisposing factor for atopic dermatitis (“eczema”) and associated allergic conditions, including atopic asthma, hay fever, food allergy etc (Nature Genetics 38:337-34, 2006; Nature Genetics 38:441-446, 2006; Nature Genetics 39:650-654, 2007; Nature Genetics 41:602-608, 2009; New England J Med 365:1315-1327, 2011).  Previously, allergic diseases were thought to be purely immunological.  However, Irwin’s paradigm-shifting work demonstrated the importance of skin barrier function in preventing eczema and related allergies, thus paving the way for development of new classes of medicines and preventative measures.  In recognition of this research, Irwin won the Times Higher Education Research Project of the Year 2006; The CERIES Dermatology Research Prize 2006; The Paul Gerson Unna Dermatology Research Prize 2007; Royal Society Research Merit Award 2007; and the American Skin Association Achievement Award 2009.  He has given the top research prize lectures of the European (ESDR), North American (SID), Asia-Pacific (JSID) and British (BSID) societies for dermatology research.  Significantly, Irwin was awarded the Royal Society’s 2015 Buchanan Medal for “distinguished contributions to the medical sciences in general”. 

     Latterly, Irwin’s work focused on therapeutics with multimillion pound research programmes in RNA therapy and small molecule drug discovery aimed at disorders of the epidermis and cornea, as well as atopic eczema and asthma. This research has led to clinical trials.  During 2011, Irwin established a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline to develop drugs aimed at reactivating defective genes.  In 2014, he and colleagues also established a £2m partnership with the Pfizer Rare Disease Consortium to further develop these compounds. In 2012, funded by a £6m Strategic Award from The Wellcome Trust, Irwin established the Centre for Dermatology and Genetic Medicine in Dundee – a multidisciplinary research initiative aimed at translating basic science discoveries in the inherited skin diseases into new medicines.  In 2015, he signed a collaboration with WaVe Life Sciences to develop antisense RNA therapy for skin disorders.  Two start-up companies (TenBio and Tay Therapeutics) have resulted from Irwin’s research programmes.

     Irwin has had close links with the National Health Service since the 1990s and retains Honorary NHS Consultant Clinical Scientist positions in both Human Genetics and Dermatology to facilitate hereditary skin disease diagnosis. The dozens of genetic tests for skin conditions developed by Irwin’s lab are in daily use worldwide.  He has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2005), a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2009), a Fellow of the Royal Society (2014), a Member of Academia Europaea (2016), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2020).  During his career, Irwin has had close ties with the patient advocacy organisations DEBRA, PC Project and several others to deliver patient support, molecular diagnosis and registries of genetically-defined subjects to enable clinical trials of emerging medicines.  

     Professor McLean retired in 2019 because of ill health, however his research group remained active until 2024, funded by a £2m MRC Programme Grant plus other funding. Irwin lives in the northwest highlands of Scotland and is currently pursuing arts projects, particularly creative writing, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2020. He also supports several charities, as well as his learned societies.  In particular, he is a former Trustee of The Linda Norgrove Foundation, supporting women’s medical education in Afghanistan.  Locally, he volunteers for Gairloch Community Car Scheme.  Irwin was recently appointed as Schwartz Professor of Genetic Medicine by PC Project to spearhead new drug discovery programmes aimed at inherited skin diseases.