Bioorthogonal site-selective protein immobilisation and labelling

Prof Jason Micklefield and Dr Lu Shin Wong's project, funded by the BBSRC, aims to develop new methods for enzyme catalysed site-selective covalent protein immobilisation that can be used in the production of protein arrays for proteomics and other applications.

Advances in Stem cell sorting methods

Prof Peter Fielden and Prof Nick Goddard along with colleagues in the Faculty of Life Sciences have received over £2M funding from EPSRC for their project "Stem cells fractionations with artificial matrices" which aims to develop high throughput smart sieves to sort millions of cells simultaneously.

Manchester joins the Carbon Trust in global race to commercialise algae biofuels

The Carbon Trust has announced plans to take on the world in the global race to develop a sustainable, cost-effective biofuel from algae. The two Manchester projects are:
Project 1 - Nutrient optimisation for high lipid yield and productivity - Jon Pittman, Andrew Dean and Prof Roy Goodacre

Project 2 - Ultrasonic extraction of biofuel precursors from single cell algae - Jeremy Hawkes, Prof Peter Fielden, Dr Bernard Treves Brown and Dr Jeff Prest, MIB with Steve Wilkinson, Chemical Engineering, Sheffield. Read more

Dynamically-coupled enzyme catalysis: towards a step change in our understanding of enzyme catalysed reactions

BBSRC award led by Prof Nigel Scrutton with Co-Investigators: Samuel de Visser; Peter Gardner; David Leys; Jason Micklefield; Klaus Muller-Dethlefs; and Michael Sutcliffe. (Award value £2.4M, 2008-2013). This grant aims to provide a quantitative account of biological catalysis using alternative physical frameworks supported by state-of-the-art experimental, computation and theoretical study.

Application of novel technologies towards quantitative analytical phenotyping of single cells

This one year EPSRC funded feasibility account (£250K), led by Prof Sabine Flitsch, will unite 13 MIB research groups to apply their pioneering imaging techniques to cellular phenotyping. The project aims to combine new and emerging technologies (including Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), FTIR and SPR) and methodologies for cellular manipulation, sorting and imaging, to provide a step change towards generation of intrinsic cell signatures.

Harwell Research Complex footprint to develop time resolved techniques

Prof Nigel Scrutton and Prof David Leys are part of a successful consortium bid (groups from Universities of Manchester, Bath, Southampton, Leeds, Nottingham, Durham and STFC) to the EPSRC for research laboratory space and infrastructure at the Harwell Research Complex. This award will enable studies of "Dynamic Structural Science" at the Diamond Light Source and STFC facilities where time resolved techniques can be developed to move into a regime where it is possible to watch chemical and biological processes as they occur.