About the Project
University of Nottingham, with Lucite International
Applications are invited from UK/EU students for this CASE studentship, co-sponsored by BBSRC and Lucite International (http://www.luciteinternational.com/), which forms part of Lucite’s bio-based methylmethacrylate (MMA) project. MMA (2,000,000 tonnes/year) is used to manufacture Perspex and related materials and coatings (http://www.luciteinternational.com/applications-overview-1/). We have developed metabolically engineered microorganisms to produce an intermediate for MMA production. This intermediate is toxic towards the producing cells, and the product titres are restricted by this toxicity. We have made a major breakthrough by isolating and sequencing diverse highly product-resistant mutants by accelerated laboratory evolution. The mutants contain diverse, multiple mutations in regulatory and/or structural genes. The project aim is to identify the exact biological effects of the mutations, by using transcriptomics and deletion/overexpression, coupled with isolation/characterization of the mutant proteins, to determine the molecular basis of their enhanced function. New resistant strains will also be constructed (e.g. by genome shuffling, adaptive evolution). The best strains will be tested for bio-production of the intermediate in fed-batch/continuous bioprocesses.
The project will be co-supervised by Prof. Gill Stephens, Dr Ian Kerr, and Dr Luca Rossoni, with Dr Graham Eastham at Lucite as industrial supervisor. Applicants should have or expect to obtain a first or upper second undergraduate degree or MSc with distinction (or EU equivalents) in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, or a related discipline. This 4 year project is co-funded by BBSRC and Lucite, and provides tuition fees and a stipend (£14,553 for 2017/2018), topped up by Lucite (£2500/year). You will be part of the Biorenewables and Bioprocessing group (https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/bioprocess-environmental-and-chemical-technologies/index.aspx) in the Faculty of Engineering and the membrane transport group (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~mbzidk/) in the School of Life Sciences, working in laboratories fully equipped for molecular biology, membrane protein biochemistry, fermentation technology and analytical chemistry. For further information and to submit an application, please email Gill Stephens ([Email Address Removed]). Applications should contain a brief covering letter explaining your interest in the project, a curriculum vitae, and names and contact details of 3 referees. The closing date is 21st August 2017, to start in October 2017.
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