School/College

Institute of Quantitative Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology (IQB3), Edinburgh University

 

Email

Christine.Merrick@ed.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 131 650 5416

Twitter

@CMerrickBio

Research vision

My expertise lie in developing microbial systems for production of natural high-value compounds and enzymes for industrial processes. In previous work I was part of an international team that developed a new DNA assembly platform for rapid optimisation of metabolic pathways. Using this technology I successfully generated microbial variants for the production of food additives, and precursors for antimalarial and anticancer drugs. In my current work in the Rosser Lab I have undertaken a bioinformatic bioprospecting approach to discover enzymes that will be enhanced and produced at scale for downstream industrial manufacturing of home care products.

My research vision is to use microbial systems to establish pioneering technologies to better understand and address global challenges, and to optimise and refine industrial processes. These technologies could include state-of-the-art DNA-based platforms for enhancing strain productivity and viability, new high-throughput screens and assays, and novel strategies for refining cumbersome and costly microbial processes.

In the years that I have been a member of the Synthetic Biology community I have been involved with a number of successful interdisciplinary projects with both academic and industrial collaborators at national and international scales. I welcome opportunities to contribute to diverse projects from conventional R&D to bleeding edge science.

Expectations from collaboration

I am looking for academic or industrial collaborators that could use enhanced microbial systems (particularly in E. coli and P. pastoris) to deliver innovative, greener, and more economically viable solutions to real-world problems. I am able to contribute my skills in designing, developing and characterising such systems. I am keen to share my knowledge and expertise with groups from different disciplines working in areas such as biomaterials, clean energy, waste management, and in situ detection devices.

Key Skills

  • Synthetic biology;

  • DNA assembly;

  • metabolic pathway engineering;

  • bioprospecting;

  • directed evolution;

  • protein production.

 

 

First published: 7 May 2019

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Christine Merrick