The University of Birmingham’s centre for Synthetic Biology at Birmingham - SB² has recently been awarded several research contracts in the areas of novel detection methods, and novel materials using synthetic biology.
Professor Tim Dafforn who leads the SB² centre is undertaking a £500k project, funded by the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) to research Linear Dichroism Based Immunoassay for Rapid Diagnosis of Intoxication . Several other principle investigators including Dr Zoe Schnepp, Dr Alex Robinson, and Dr Isaac Chang have between them been awarded a total of just over £700k from DSTL and the Centre for Defence Enterprise to undertake research topics as varied as ‘Exploiting Synthetic Biology for Protection Integrating Blast and Ballistic Protection into a Single Lightweight Armour’ and the ‘Design and Fabrication of High Sensitivity Electrochemical DNA-Based Biosensors’.
Professor Dafforn commented “These recent, high value awards from DSTL and the CDE clearly demonstrate confidence in the strength and breadth of expertise in the applications for synthetic biology at Birmingham. Our multidisciplinary approach affords our academics and our students an unrivalled opportunity to collaborate in cutting-edge research at the interface between biology and the physical sciences.”