University of Warwick awarded £12m for new research centre

THE University of Warwick has won a £12m award to create a new centre researching and developing advanced technologies in synthetic biology.

The centre – the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology centre (WISB) – will help drive advances in pharmaceuticals, high-value and commodity chemicals, innovative treatments for disease, environmental bioremediation, and food security. It will also play a major role in improving the understanding of the key principles underpinning living systems.

WISB brings together researchers from across the university in disciplines including Life Sciences, Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education, and Law.

Business Secretary Vince Cable announced the funding, which will be split across a five-year programme, as part of a £40m investment in UK synthetic biology at the Manchester Institute for Biotechnology, where researchers are using the technology to investigate how to use bacteria in place of fossil fuels to produce the chemicals needed to manufacture a wide variety of everyday products from credit cards, to nappies, to Tupperware tubs.

The investment comes from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and capital investment from the Government.

Mr Cable said: “From materials for advanced manufacturing to developing new antibiotics and better tests for diseases, this new £40m investment is in one of the most promising areas of modern science.

“It will see our world class researchers using bacteria to produce chemicals to make everyday products like toothbrushes and credit cards, which are currently made from unsustainable fossil fuels.  Not only will this help improve people’s everyday lives in the future but it will support long-term economic growth.”

Warwick will provide a comprehensive research, training and outreach programme in synthetic biology that is unique in the UK. This will use predictive biosystems engineering as the primary driver of sustainable innovation in synthetic biology and its applications. WISB is also part of the UK’s only synthetic biology doctoral training programme.

Professor John McCarthy, of the University of Warwick’s School of Life Sciences and Director of WISB (SLS), said: “We are delighted to receive this strategically important UK Synthetic Biology Centre Award. Synthetic biology has huge potential to generate valuable processes and products for biotechnology and medicine, as well as new understanding of the fundamental principles that underpin living systems. WISB is building a globally recognised presence as a centre of excellence in research and training in Synthetic Biology, and this grant from BBSRC and EPSRC will help us enormously in achieving our goals.”

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