The Future of Chemistry is Microbial

Close-up of a hand holding a plastic bottle pouring a thick, dark liquid into a glass container.
Night view of an industrial oil refinery with illuminated pipes and structures.

We are a multidisciplinary team harnessing engineering biology to reprogram microbes for sustainable chemical synthesis

Oil droplets in water creating bubbles in a blue-green background.
A scientist wearing gloves handling a petri dish in a laboratory.
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Over 90% of everyday products are made from fossil fuels

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by industrial processes that account for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions

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Microorganisms are Nature’s earliest and most ingenious synthetic chemists

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…and through engineering biology we can harness this microbial chemistry to build the sustainable chemical factories of the future

Featured
Concurrent Linear Deracemization of Secondary Benzylic Alcohols via Simultaneous Photocatalysis and Whole-cell Biocatalysis
Concurrent Linear Deracemization of Secondary Benzylic Alcohols via Simultaneous Photocatalysis and Whole-cell Biocatalysis
Featured
Discover Engineering Biology at the University of Edinburgh
Discover Engineering Biology at the University of Edinburgh
Featured
Fatbergs turned into perfume - inside Britain's bizarre new industrial revolution
Fatbergs turned into perfume - inside Britain's bizarre new industrial revolution

Fatbergs turned into perfume - inside Britain's bizarre new industrial revolution

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Amazing collaborators and funders have allowed us to produce work we are proud of.

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