Plastic pollution is a major environmental threat and sequesters carbon-rich materials derived from finite, petrochemical resources. Whilst there has been significant progress on bio-based plastic degradation, methods to utilise the resultant degradation products are limited. Valorising plastic waste not only has a positive environmental impact, but also generates value from waste and will enable a transition towards a sustainable, circular economy.
The Project:
This project will harness the latest advances in synthetic biology, biocatalysis and biocompatible chemistry to develop novel bio-based pathways to up-cycle plastic waste into industrially valuable chemicals. We will build novel whole-cell pathways and develop new biocompatible, non-enzyme catalysed reactions to convert waste plastic into high value small molecules, focussing on targets which are currently produced from fossil fuel derived feedstocks via energy intensive processes.
We will initially focus our attention on generating one high value bulk chemical from poly(ethylene) terephthalate (PET), which will encompass a novel biocatalytic transformation. We will then use modern synthetic biology techniques to assemble a whole-cell pathway in Escherichia coli and interface this with biocompatible plastic degradation methodologies currently under development within the group. Product titres will be maximised through strain engineering and optimisation of processing conditions. Next, we will investigate opportunities to merge synthetic chemistry with biological up-cycling pathways to access chemical scaffolds from PET which would not be accessible using synthetic biology alone. For example, we will screen commercially available chemical catalysts for C-H activation and derivatisation of the pathway intermediates. This will enable access to a library of industrially valuable chemicals from plastic waste.
The project will be suited to students from biology and chemistry backgrounds with previous experience in biocatalysis, synthetic biology, biocompatible or bioorganic chemistry.
Training environment:
This project will be supervised by Dr Joanna Sadler and Dr Stephen Wallace at the Institute of Quantitative Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology (IQB3) at the University of Edinburgh. The research will provide multi-disciplinary training spanning synthetic biology and pathway engineering, biocompatible chemistry, plastic degradation and biocatalysis. The successful candidate will also benefit from strong links with the SynthSys centre, the Edinburgh Genome Foundry, the School of Chemistry and various industrial partners.
@SadlerLab
@JoSadler10
@Wallace_Lab
https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/dr-joanna-sadler
http://wallacelab.bio.ed.ac.uk/
The School of Biological Sciences is committed to Equality & Diversity: https://www.ed.ac.uk/biology/equality-and-diversity
How to Apply:
The “Institution Website” button will take you to our Online Application checklist. Complete each step and download the checklist which will provide a list of funding options and guide you through the application process. Application deadline is 16 April 2021.
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