Research output per year
Research output per year
Organisation profile
Organisation profile
The Centre for Engineering Biology has evolved from SynthSys (the University of Edinburgh Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology) and the UKRI-funded UK Centre for Mammalian Synthetic Biology. The centre consists of members from across the three University of Edinburgh Colleges, CSE, CMVM and CAHSS.
The Centre is a community of more than 50 research groups and 200 researchers spanning biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, informatics, medicine and social sciences.
It is underpinned by specialist research facilities including Edinburgh Genome Foundry, the world’s largest automated DNA assembly platform, and EdinOmics, for mass spectrometry, metabolomics and proteomics analysis.
The Centre for Engineering Biology will take synthetic biology concepts and translate them into real world solutions. Researchers break down the genome into smaller parts to better understand how they contribute to how living systems work; they then either re-use or redesign these genetic parts to build new systems with a variety of novel and useful purposes.
Researchers can, for example, engineer bacteria with the ability to upcycle carbon or metal waste into high value chemicals, or use gene editing tools to generate cells resistant to Lewy bodies and useful in the management of Parkinson’s disease.
Aligned with the UK Government’s National Engineering Biology Programme (NEBP) the centre will build on existing expertise and fundamental research, driving impact and strengthening the UK’s position as an international leader.
Growth and Opportunities
The Centre’s research is broad and deep, addressing a diversity of scientific questions with wide ranging impacts for society, industry, the economy and our planet.
Research will include the synthetic biology in which Edinburgh is already strong, but also engineering of biology for 'green', or sustainable, chemistry, which will lead to more environmentally friendly ways of producing food, fuel, alternative materials and chemicals, and the engineering of mammalian systems for a range of medical technologies, including cell therapies and tissue engineering.
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Dive into the research topics where Centre for Engineering Biology is active. These topic labels come from the works of this organisation's members. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
Profiles
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Helen Alexander
- School of Biological Sciences - Senior Lecturer
- Centre for Engineering Biology
Person: Academic: Research Active
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Robin Allshire
- School of Biological Sciences - Professor of Chromosome Biology
- Centre for Engineering Biology
Person: Academic: Research Active
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Transcriptome-wide mRNP condensation precedes stress granule formation and excludes new mRNAs
Glauninger, H., Bard, J. A. M., Wong Hickernell, C. J., Velez, K. M., Airoldi, E. M., Li, W., Singer, R. H., Paul, S., Fei, J., Sosnick, T. R., Wallace, E. W. J. & Drummond, D. A., 4 Dec 2025, In: Molecular Cell. 85, 23, p. 4393-4409.e11 29 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Heterochromatin epimutations impose mitochondrial dysfunction to confer antifungal resistance
Fellas, A., Pidoux, A. L., Tong, P., Hewes, H. H., Wallace, E. C. & Allshire, R. C., 1 Dec 2025, In: The EMBO journal. 32 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Abstraction hierarchy to define biofoundry workflows and operations for interoperable synthetic biology research and applications
Kim, H., Hillson, N. J., Cho, B.-K., Sung, B. H., Lee, D.-H., Kim, D.-M., Oh, M.-K., Chang, M. W., Jin, Y.-S., Rosser, S. J., Vegh, P., Fragkoudis, R., Le Feuvre, R., Scrutton, N. S., Storch, M., Seong, W., Freemont, P. S. & Lee, S.-G., Dec 2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 1, 6 p., 6056.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile
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Trainee day for EBRS - Basics of Chronobiology: Entrainment
Millar, A. (Speaker)
24 Sept 2025Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Talk: Practical steps to build a future digital plant: counting proteins, sharing data and an anchoring institution.
Millar, A. (Speaker)
19 Sept 2025Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Molecular Biology has arrived, where is Engineering Biology?
Millar, A. (Invited speaker)
26 Jun 2025Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Prizes
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2021 Top 50 Women in Engineering: Engineering Heroes
Ameri, T. (Recipient), Donaldson, K. (Recipient), Dunn, K. (Recipient) & Roy, D. (Recipient), 23 Jun 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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2024 Van der Waals Prize (young scientist)
Cockroft, S. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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An axolotl pipeline for regeneration, development, stem cell and cancer research
Rodrigo Albors, A. (Principal Investigator), Tucker, C. (Co-investigator), Lucas, C. (Co-investigator), Blackburn, C. (Co-investigator), O'Carroll, D. (Co-investigator), McLean, G. (Co-investigator), Chambers, I. (Co-investigator), Sharp, M. (Co-investigator), Strachan, P. (Co-investigator), Lowell, S. (Co-investigator), Pollard, S. (Co-investigator), Wilson, V. (Co-investigator) & Lu, W.-Y. (Co-investigator)
1/08/25 → 31/07/26
Project: Research
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A Spinning Disk Super-resolution Microscope For High Throughput Organ Mapping And Ultra-fast Live Cell Imaging Of Signalling Networks
Porter, I. (Principal Investigator), Garcia Burgos, A. (Co-investigator), Wheeler, A. (Co-investigator), Muir, C. (Co-investigator), Surmeli, G. (Co-investigator), Davies, J. (Co-investigator), Zoupi, L. (Co-investigator), Evans, M. (Co-investigator), Choudhury, M. (Co-investigator), Rochefort, N. (Co-investigator), Booker, S. (Co-investigator), Ribeiro dos Louros, S. (Co-investigator) & Theil, T. (Co-investigator)
1/08/25 → 31/07/26
Project: Research
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Redefining Plant Light Sensing: Phytochrome A Operates as a Canopy-Depth Sensor
Halliday, K. (Principal Investigator) & Grima, R. (Co-investigator)
6/07/24 → 5/07/27
Project: Research
Datasets
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A system for in vivo ablation of MeCP2-deficient neurons in the Rett Syndrome mouse model
Paton, K. (Owner), Selfridge, J. (Creator), Guy, J. (Researcher), Connelly, J. (Researcher), Waterfall, M. (Researcher), Kelly, D. (Researcher), Davies, J. (Supervisor), Smith, A. (Supervisor), Rosser, S. (Supervisor), Bird, A. (Owner), Romanowski, A. (Data Manager), Zielinski, T. (Data Manager) & Paton, K. (Owner), Edinburgh DataVault, 30 Apr 2021
DOI: 10.7488/139e57b5-25ed-4ad2-b9bc-d323305ede21
Dataset
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Stancheva lab data set: Epigenetics and regulatory methylation of DNA
Stancheva, I. (Creator) & Tollervey, D. (Contact Person), Edinburgh DataVault, 2021
Dataset
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Data Sharing Practices in the MRC Circadian Mental Health Network.
Deeb, H. (Researcher), Zielinski, T. (Project Manager) & Millar, A. (Project Leader), Zenodo, 6 Sept 2024
Dataset
Press/Media
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Eau de fatberg? Scientists collect smelly lumps of wet wipes, used condoms, and grease from sewers and turn them into PERFUMES
15/01/25 → 16/01/25
4 Media contributions
Press/Media: Research
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Scientists have told how life can exist in space even without planets
16/12/24 → 18/12/24
5 Media contributions
Press/Media: Research
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The woman who smells Parkinson's disease: She discovered her husband's disease twelve years before she was diagnosed
14/06/24 → 18/06/24
4 Media contributions
Press/Media: Research