David Malcolm James Lilley

David Malcolm James Lilley (born 28 May 1948) is a British biophysical chemist. He is Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Dundee. He is also a visiting professor at Nankai University and Sun Yat-sen University.

Lilley is an expert in the structure and folding of nucleic acids, including specialised branched structures of DNA. His lab was the first to resolve the structure of the DNA Holliday junction and has since conducted extensive research on Holliday-junction resolving enzymes. Lilley has also carried out research in ribozyme catalysis and structures, as well as kink turns (k-turns) in RNA. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2002.

He graduated from Durham University in 1969 with a first-class degree in Chemistry, and finished his PhD in Physical Chemistry at the same institution in 1972. He was the Colworth Medal winner in 1982, and from 1996 to 2001 served as Editor of Gene. 2002: RNA and Ribozyme Chemistry Award of The Royal Society of Chemistry 2002: Fellow of the Royal Society 2006: Royal Society of Chemistry, Interdisciplinary Award 2015: RNA Society Lifetime Service Award 2016: Royal Society of Chemistry Khorana Prize