Metabolic engineering of bacteria to upcycle plastic waste to value added polymers and chemicals

Plastics have contributed greatly to the ease of everyday life as a result of their large-scale utility and in particular through their global presence as packaging materials. Plastics used in food and drink packaging applications are made from a range of polymers, which are highly customised with specific additives to meet functional and/or aesthetic requirements.  This diversity makes the end-of-life management challenging, ultimately resulting in materials being incinerated or disposed in landfills.

A H2020 project UPLIFT aims to develop and scale-up chemical- and bioprocesses to allow for the up-cycling of plastic packaging waste materials. The present study, which is integrative part of UPLIFT, focuses on transformative potential of bacteria to provide routes to convert plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to biodegradable polymers of specific characteristics, as well as other valuable molecules. This will be achieved using systems biology and metabolic engineering approach.

Start date: 1^st May 2021

For details of requirements and application see https://www.ucd.ie/sbbs/research/researchvacancies/fundedphdposition/