Dr Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Biology within the Department of Applied Biology, Cellular and Molecular Sciences/Microbiology Group. He graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BSc in Microbiology in 2000. After a 1.5 years working for Applied Biosystems he spent the following 7.5 years completing both a PhD (2005) and Post-Doctoral research in the laboratory of Alan McCarthy, Heather Allison and Jon Saunders studying the biology of Shiga toxin encoding bacteriophages. Prior to joining Northumbria University, Dr Smith completed his postdoctoral research in Professor Andrew Owen's group, Liverpool HIV pharmacology group, University of Liverpool, in collaboration with Professor Steve Rannard's group studying the impact of nanoformulation on highly active antiretroviral therapy drugs used in the treatment of HIV infection. These studies have included drug delivery, cellular accumulation and transcellular permeability models.

Tariq, Mohammad, Everest, Francesca, Cowley, Lauren, De Soyza, Anthony, Holt, Giles, Bridge, Simon, Perry, Audrey, Perry, John, Bourke, Stephen, Cummings, Stephen, Lanyon, Clare, Barr, Jeremy and Smith, Darren (2015) A metagenomic approach to characterize temperate bacteriophage populations from Cystic Fibrosis and non-Cystic Fibrosis bronchiectasis patients. Frontiers in Microbiology, 6 (97); DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00097 Purcell, Paul, Jary, Hannah, Perry, Audrey, Perry, John, Stewart, Christopher, Nelson, Andrew, Lanyon, Clare, Smith, Darren, Cummings, Stephen and de Soyza, Anthony (2014) Polymicrobial airway bacterial communities in adult bronchiectasis patients. BMC Microbiology, 14 (130); DOI: 10.1186/1471-2180-14-130 Martin, Philip, Giardiello, Marco, McDonald, Tom, Smith, Darren, Siccardi, Marco, Rannard, Steven and Owen, Andrew (2015) Augmented inhibition of CYP3A4 in human primary hepatocytes by ritonavir solid drug nanoparticles. Molecular Pharmaceutics; DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.5b00204 McDonald, T, O., Giardiello, M., Martin, P., Siccardi, M., Liptrott, N.J., Smith, D.L., Roberts, P., Curley, P., Schipani, A., Khoo, S.H., Long, J., Foster, A.J., Rannard, S.P., Owen A. (2013) Antiretroviral Solid Drug Nanoparticles with Enhanced Oral Bioavailability: Production, Characterization, and In Vitro-In Vivo Correlation. Advanced Healthcare Materials; DOI:10.1002/adhm.201300280 Smith, Darren, Rooks, David, Fogg, Paul, Darby, Alistair C., Thomson, Nick R., McCarthy, Alan and Allison, Heather (2012) Comparative genomics of Shiga toxin encoding bacteriophages. BMC Genomics, 13 (1). p. 311. ISSN 1471-2164 Volponi, G. Rooks, D.J., Smith, D. L. Picozzi, C., Allison H.E., Vigentini, I., Foschino, R., McCarthy, A.J. (2012). Characterization of Shiga toxin 2-carrying bacteriophages induced from Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli isolated from Italian Dairy products. J. Dairy. Sci. 95(12):6949-56. doi: 10.3168/jds.2012-5831 McDonald, Tom, Martin, Philip, Patterson, Joseph P., Smith, Darren, Giardiello, Marco, Marcello, Marco, See, Violaine, O'Reilly, Rachel K., Owen, Andrew and Rannard, Steve (2012) Multicomponent organic nanoparticles for fluorescence studies in biological systems. Advanced Functional Materials. vol 22 pp 2469-2478 Moss, Darren, Kwan, Wai San, Liptrott, Neill, Smith, Darren, Siccardi, Marco, Khoo, Saye, Back, David and Owen, Andrew (2011) Raltegravir Is a Substrate for SLC22A6: a Putative Mechanism for the Interaction between Raltegravir and Tenofovir. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 55 (2). pp. 879-887. ISSN 0066-4804 Rooks D. J., Smith D. L., McDonald J. E., Woodward M. J., McCarthy A. J. and Allison H. E. 454-pyrosequencing: a molecular battiscope for freshwater viral ecology. Genes 2010, 1(2), 210-226 McDonald J. E., Smith D. L., Fogg, P. C. M., McCarthy A. J., Allison H. E.(2010). High-Throughput Method for Rapid Induction of Prophages from Lysogens and Its Application in the Study of Shiga Toxin-Encoding Escherichia coli Strains Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76: 2360-2365