David Colquhoun

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David Colquhoun, FRS (born July 19, 1936) is a British pharmacologist at University College London (UCL)[1]. He has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms of single ion channel function. He previously held the A.J. Clark chair of Pharmacology at UCL, and was the Hon. Director of the Wellcome Laboratory for Molecular Pharmacology. He was made an honorary fellow of UCL in 2004. Colquhoun runs the popular blog and website Improbable Science, dedicated to critical assessment of pseudoscience, particularly alternative medicine and managerialism.

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[edit] Early Life and Education

Colquhoun was born July 19, 1936 in Birkenhead, UK. After working unhappily as an apprentice pharmacist, he was motivated go into research[2]. He obtained a B.Sc. from the University of Leeds with a specialization in pharmacology, and went on to complete a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh where he studied the binding of immunoglobins to lung tissue. During his education, Colquhoun developed an interest in statistics and random processes, which would influence his research in years to come.

[edit] Post-graduate Career

Upon completion of his Ph.D., Colquhoun conducted further research on immunological problems at UCL from 1964-1969. During this time he published a book on statistics [3]. Following this, he completed stints at Yale University and at the University of Southampton[2]. He returned to the pharmacology department at UCL in 1979, where he has remained since.

Colquhoun now researches the nature of the molecular interactions that cause single ion channels to open and shut, and what it is that controls the speed of synaptic events. The invention and successful application of the patch clamp technique by Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann allowed the individual openings and closings of single ion channels to be readily observed and recorded. However, experimentally observed recordings are random in nature[4]. With the indispensable help of the statistician Alan G. Hawkes, Colquhoun developed a statistical method to interpret the data and formulate a quantitative model for how ion channels function[5].

[edit] Criticism of scientific fraud, alternative medicine and managerialism

Colquhoun has been an outspoken critic of pseudoscience and scientific fraud for many years. He has written extensively on the topic, including articles in Nature[6] and The Guardian[7]. He is particularly critical of alternative medicine, and of the decision of a number of UK universities to offer degrees in complementary and alternative medicine[6], stating that they are “anti-science” and that “universities that run them should be ashamed of themselves.”[8] His interest in inference extends to methods that are used to assess and manage science, and critical assessment of research "metrics". [9]

[edit] Improbable Science

Colquhoun created his personal website, Improbable Science, devoted to criticism of scientific fraud and quackery, in 2001. It has a particular focus on alternative medicine (AM), including such practices as homeopathy, Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, and others, calling them “pure gobbledygook”. In addition to his outspoken disapproval of AM in academia, Colquhoun frequently speaks out on his website against misrepresentation of AM as science in the media and governmental support of AM.

[edit] Controversy

In May 2007, Colquhoun announced on his website that recent comments he had made questioning the validity of claims made by a British herbalist had resulted in a complaint to Malcolm Grant, provost of UCL[10] . In response to legal threats from Alan Lakin, husband of this purveyor of herbal remedies, Grant required Colquhoun to remove his website from the UCL server. This resulted in an outcry from the scientific community, citing a violation of Colquhoun’s academic freedom. Grant ultimately reconsidered his decision and on June 13, 2007, he and Colquhoun released a joint statement that Colquhoun’s website would be reinstated with slight modifications.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ UCL Pharmacology: Prof. David Colquhoun, <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc.html> 
  2. ^ a b An Uncommon Scientist with a lot of Common Sense, <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/dc-mol-int.pdf> 
  3. ^ Colquhoun, David [1971]. Lectures in Biostatistics: An Introduction to Statistics with Applications to Biology and Medicine. Oxford University Press. 
  4. ^ , <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/scholars1d.pdf> 
  5. ^ Colquhoun, D.; C. Hatton, A.G. Hawkes (2003). "The quality of maximum likelihood estimation of ion channel rate constants". Journal of Physiology 547: 699-728. 
  6. ^ a b Colquhoun, D. (2007). "Science degrees without the science". Nature 446: 373-374. 
  7. ^ Colquhoun, David. "An age of endarkenment", The Guardian, August 15, 2007. 
  8. ^ Clark, Laura. "Row over surge in 'scandalously un-academic' university courses", Daily Mail, July 26, 2007. 
  9. ^ Colquhoun, David (2007). "How to get good science.". Physiology News 69: 12-14. 
  10. ^ , <http://www.dcscience.net/improbable.html#freedom1> 
  11. ^ Joint Statement by Professor Colquhoun and UCL, <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0706/07061303> 

[edit] External Links

David Colquhoun @ UCL Pharmacology
Publications
Improbable Science
Columnist Ben Goldacre's account of the Improbable Science incident