Dr David Roberts

Background

I was educated at Newcastle Emlyn V.P. School and Hereford Cathedral School. After National Service I did my BA in Natural Sciences at Peterhouse Cambridge, followed by a Ph.D. in the Genetics Department, Cambridge, 1961-64. I had a Fulbright Scholarship to the McCollum Pratt Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore. 1964-66. I was a lecturer in Genetics at Leeds University 1966-70 when I moved to the newly created Genetics Laboratory in Oxford where I remained until I retired in 2003. At the same time I was Fellow and Tutor in Biology and Human Sciences at Magdalen. I obtained an MA in Art History from the Open University in 2009.

Research interests

Most of my research in Genetics was carried out on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. At the time of my retirement I was studying N-linked glycosylation of Drosophila proteins, and the role protein glycosylation played in the development. Since retiring I have carried out research on the late 15th-century Swedish church painter Albertus Pictor. My interest in Art History crystalized during my tenure as Vice President of Magdalen in 2003- 04 when I created a database of Magdalen’s pictures.

Publications

• The Developmental profiles of two major haemolymph proteins from Drosophila melanogaster. David B. Roberts, Jonathan Wolfe and Michael Akam J. Insect Physiol. 1977 23 871-878
• The major serum protein of Drosophila larvae, larval serum protein 1, is dispensable. David B. Roberts, Trevor Jowett, Jane Hughes, Deborah F. Smith and David M. Glover. Eur. J. Biochem. 1991 195 195-201
• Mutant analysis reveals an alternative pathway for N-linked glycosylation in Drosophila melanogaster David B. Roberts, Wendy J. Mulvany, Raymond A. Dwek, and Pauline M. Rudd. Eur J. Biochem. 1998 253 494-498
• Albertus Pictor and his paintings of Samson Rending the Lion; A discussion of the possible origin and significance of this motif in the three Mälardalen provinces of fifteenth-century Sweden. David B. Roberts. MA dissertation Open University 2009.
• The Church Militant; Interpreting a Satirical Cartoon. Magdalen College Oxford 2013