Bioengineering of bacterial - green chemistry that is “dyeing” to be used

Supervisors:

Professor Andrew Roe, Infection and Immunity 

Professor Massimo Vassalli, James Watt School of Engineering 

 

Project summary:

The world is going green- including the chemical industry with major players promising that all chemicals will be environmentally compatible by set deadlines. In this project the major aim is to engineer bacteria to produce natural pigments, by themselves and in combinations, to create sustainable dynamic colours. We will set up a platform for living dye production for green industries in areas such as cosmetics (skin, hairs, etc…), food (food colouring, cake design and cloth dyes, etc ...).

We will use a mix of biotechnology and biophysics approaches to design and characterize bacterial strains to produce new and interesting colours. This is a unique opportunity to learn bioenginnering, bacteriology and high-resolution spatial microscopy with a focused application and clear translational outcome.