Darren J. Dixon was born and raised in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He obtained his first degree and D. Phil from the University of Oxford, where he worked with Professor Stephen G. Davies on the first total synthesis of the psuedopeptide antibiotic Moiramide B, and its close relative Andrimid. In 1997 he moved to Cambridge to post-doc with Professor Steven V. Ley CBE, FRS and in 2000 was appointed to the staff of the Department of Chemistry. In September 2004 he moved to The University of Manchester to take up a Senior Lecturership. In August 2007 he was promoted to Reader.