2021 News Dr Katherine Dunn awarded Fellowship of Institute of Physics School of Engineering Lecturer and SynthSys PI Dr Katherine Dunn has been awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Physics. School of Engineering recognises their Covid-19 heroes During a School of Engineering staff meeting in November, 81 members of the School community were honoured for their work on the Covid-19 pandemic response. SULSA Saltire Emerging Researcher Award This funding aims to promote mobility between Scotland and European research partners with the aim of strengthening existing, and seeding future, research relationships. Recipients of the UKIC Postdoctoral Research Fellowships announced The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced this year’s recipients of the UK Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowships. Hidden REF Award given to Guide to Pharmacology project Awarded in the category ‘applications of research’ The SynPharm part of this was built with funds from the UK Centre for Mammalian Synthetic Biology. Hidden REF Award given to Guide to Pharmacology project The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY has been given a hidden REF award in the category ‘applications of research’ Dr Giovanni Stracquadanio awarded EPSRC Early Career Fellowship Congratulations to Giovanni Stracquadanio who has been awarded an EPSRC Fellowship worth £1.35M on generative recombination enzyme engineering for therapeutics. Dr Nadanai Laohakunakorn awarded UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Congratulations to SynthSys member Nadanai Laohakunakorn, who is the recipient of a UK government fellowship that supports researchers and innovators with outstanding potential. Natural blue food colouring gets eco-friendly production boost Scientists have developed an environmentally-friendly way of boosting the production and heat stability of a natural blue colouring known as phycocyanin, or spirulina extract Dr Diego Oyarzun appointed as Turing Fellow Congratulations to Diego Oyarzun, SynthSys PI and Reader in the School of Informatics and Biological Sciences, who has been appointed as a 2021 Turing Fellow. Precise optical control of gene expression in C. elegans Researchers have developed and used an improved genetic code expansion system for optical control of gene expression in an animal. Dr Adam Stokes wins inaugural DDE Academic Entrepreneurship Award The University’s first Data Driven Entrepreneurship (DDE) Academic Entrepreneurship Award is presented to a member of academic staff who has shown outstanding leadership in driving entrepreneurship among students and fellow researchers. Transcription Factor OCT4 influences cell fate by interacting with packaged DNA A new study in Nature Cell Biology has brought clarity to how cells become or stay pluripotent - the ability to go on to produce multiple cell types. Dr Katherine Dunn named in Top 50 Women in Engineering Congratulations to Synthsys PI Dr Katherine Dunn, who has been named in the Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES). Bacteria serves tasty solution to global plastic problem Scientists have devised a novel way of tackling the mounting issue of plastic pollution… by using bacteria to transform plastic waste into vanilla flavouring. Royal Society of Chemistry Prize for Parkinson's team A multi-disciplinary team, including SynthSys & CRM PI Dr Tilo Kunath , has won the 2021 Analytical Division Horizon Prize: Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science Prof Jamie Davies awarded the inaugural Wolpert Medal Jamie Davies, Professor of Experimental Anatomy in the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, has been awarded the inaugural Wolpert Medal from the British Society for Developmental Biology. New high throughput cell-selection system to speed medical advances and research Edinburgh Genome Foundry has invested in a cutting edge system, funded by a £2 million grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), that will speed advances in medicine and fast-track other areas of science. Biocomputation made easy by a new method in cracking up proteins Researchers from Dr Baojun Wang's lab at SynthSys have found a reliable way to break and then fix important proteins by biological glues. This creates better opportunities to program proteins and make biocomputational circuits. £8.7m collaboration seeks better route to modern medicines An £8.7 million, five-year research collaboration led by the University of Edinburgh and FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies UK (FDB) will develop more cost-effective ways to make modern antibody-based medicines. Cancer mutations insight could boost detection and personalise treatments The understanding of many common cancers could be revolutionised by the discovery that in some cases the disease is partly triggered by large numbers of inherited genetic mutations, previously thought to have little impact on cancer risk. This article was published on 2024-06-17
