Research in Steve Busby’s lab is concerned with understanding the molecular mechanisms that control gene expression in bacteria, with particular attention to studying the regulation of transcription initiation in Escherichia coli.

In 2010 Dr Luke Alderwick was appointed to the position of Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology and he is one of the youngest members of academic staff in the School of Biosciences. His many research interests revolve around understanding the biochemistry and molecular genetics of cell wall assembly in Mycobacterium tuberculosis,which is the causative bacterial agent of TB infections. ...

My interests are focused on genome evolution and meiosis in both model plants and crops. In 1995 I setup a molecular cytogenetics laboratory with my colleague Paul Fransz (now at University of Amsterdam) and with advice from our colleague Gareth Jones. In the last 15 years we have trained many European colleagues and last year we were awarded a European collaborative project to investigate ...

Professor Jeff Bale is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of invertebrate thermal biology. His work covers both fundamental aspects such as strategies for survival in polar environments as well as the applications of thermal tolerance including the establishment potential of non-native biological control agents. Jeff has over 200 publications and supervised 50 doctoral ...

George Bassel was appointed as a Birmingham Fellow in 2012. His group focuses on understanding how genes change the shape of plant cells. Using seed germination as a model system, Dr. Bassel is uncovering gene regulatory networks that control cell shape changes, and how these networks are influenced be the environment.

Professor Besra heads a world-leading multidisciplinary team investigating key aspects of the microbial physiology of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall and the potential role of iNKT/CD1d therapeutics. He has been awarded and successfully managed over 35 research grants valued at over £11 million from The Wellcome Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research ...

Dr. Bhatt is a Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology in the School of Biosciences. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Career Development Award from the Medical Research Council; an independent fellowship that enabled him to set up his research group at the University of Birmingham. Dr.Bhatt’s research interests include studying pathogenic mycobacteria and how they cause disease, with a ...

Dr Brandstaetter is a Zoologist with specialisations in developmental biology, physiology, neurobiology, neuroendocrinology, and circadian biology. His research approach is holistic and considers mechanistic investigations at various levels of organismal organisation to study molecular and cell biology, neurobiology and endocrinology, chronobiology, behaviour, ecology, and evolution of complex ...

Dr Brogna is interested in eukaryotic gene expression and RNA processing. He has published some significant papers on these subjects. At present he is researching the Nonsense Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD) phenomenon and the mechanisms that connect pre-mRNA processing with translation.

Maureen Callow is a leading expert in the area of biofouling (deterioration of artificial surfaces through the attachment of organisms), in particular fouling of ships’ hulls by algae. In recent years, research has focussed on understanding the processes of settlement and adhesion of algal cells to environmentally benign antifouling coatings, through collaborations with chemists and surface ...

Dr Chappell is an expert in the field of animal cognition, and is involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching between the fields of biology, psychology and computer science.

My main commitment at the University of Birmingham is as Director of Research for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, working with committed colleagues towards excellence with impact. We are moving ahead with new research initiatives expanding on our research strengths within the four schools of Psychology, Biosciences, Sport and Exercise Sciences and Geography, Earth and ...

My research interest is in understanding development and evolution, particularly in plants. I run a small research group who work primarily with moss and Arabidopsis; we also grow liverworts, spikemoss, grasses and green seaweeds. We use molecular genetics, cell biology and ‘omics approaches to understand gene and protein function in these systems.

John Colbourne’s investigations encompass the fields of evolutionary ecology, high-throughput biology, environmental and functional genomics. From this blend of disciplines emerges a research program that centers on connecting gene expression and genome structure with individual fitness and population-level responses to environmental challenges.

Dr Helen J. Cooper is an expert in the gas-phase ion chemistry of peptides and proteins. She is a world-leader in the field of electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry and is responsible for establishing the University of Birmingham as a centre of excellence in mass spectrometry research. Dr Cooper has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and serves on a number of national and ...

  Professor Tim Dafforn has established himself as an expert in biophysical spectroscopy with a keen interest in synthetic biology. Professor Dafforn has developed a number of projects from inception through to commercial realization and is currently the director of knowledge transfer for the college of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

Dr Warwick (Rick) Dunn’s research group focuses on studying the complex role of metabolites in human ageing and disease. Specific interests include the development of innovative mass spectrometry-based metabolomic workflows and their application to study childhood development and diseases associated with the endocrine and cardiovascular systems, pregnancy, inflammation and immunology.

Dr Yun Fan’s research interest centers on understanding how cell death, cell proliferation, and cell differentiation are coordinated to maintain tissue homeostasis.  This has important implications for cancer development and tissue regeneration.  As one of our Birmingham Fellows recruited worldwide, he joined us and established his laboratory at Birmingham in 2012.

As Director of the University Graduate School my aim is to ensure that Doctoral Researchers throughout the University are provided with the opportunity, training and facilities to undertake internationally valued research that will lead into excellent careers in the UK and overseas. I draw from my experience of having successfully supervised over 40 doctoral researchers from the UK and many other ...

Chris Franklin is a leading expert on meiosis in plants. Work in his laboratory has made a major contribution to the understanding of how meiotic recombination is controlled in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This knowledge is currently being transferred to crop species where the ability to modify genetic recombination will help plant breeders develop the new varieties that will be needed ...

Noni Franklin-Tong’s research focuses on the cellular mechanisms involved in the model cell-cell recognition system of self-incompatibility (SI) in Papaver rhoeas(the Field Poppy). She is recognized at an international level for her work in the field of plant cell biology. Specifically she has made major contributions to the field of self-incompatibility, a field that has high ...

Dr Klaus Fütterer is a structural biologist whose research focuses on cell wall synthesis in the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Dr Grainger is an expert in the field of bacterial chromosome biology. He relocated his laboratory to the University of Birmingham in March 2011 having previously established a successful research group at the University of Warwick. He is a life-long supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and attributes his capacity to cope with the frequent disappointments that befall a research ...

Dr Jon Green is the Director of Education in the College of Life and Environmental Sciences as well as being a member of the academic staff in the School of Biosciences. He has responsibility for managing all aspects of teaching across the College. He has interests in innovative methods of teaching, including interactive lectures and the uses of different types of assessment and feedback. ...

Dr Hayward’s research group seeks to understand how organisms cope with variable and stressful environments. Temperate, polar and tropical terrestrial invertebrates (insects, mites and nematodes) are the primary focus of this endeavour. His lab uses state-of-the-art tools, and a systems biology approach, to investigate how these organisms detect, repair and stabilize the cellular and ...

Dr Carina Hellberg is an expert on protein tyrosine phosphatase signalling. She is currently investigating how phosphatases regulate platelet-derived growth factor receptor signal transduction. In addition, she is investigating how oncogenes affect receptor signalling by altering the intracellular receptor sorting.

Our lab aims to understand how the nervous system – including the brain – is formed and works.

Dr Nik Hodges is interested in the mechanisms of genetic toxicology, cellular oxidative stress and repair of oxidative DNA damage and his lab was the first to identify that the variant form of the repair protein OGG1 is repair deficient under conditions of oxidative stress which could have important consequences for individual susceptibilty to cancer.

Dr Hotchin is a cell biologist with an interest in normal epithelial cell function and in understanding the processes that contribute to diseases such as cancer. He has published a number of high impact papers on the role of small GTP-binding proteins in control of epithelial cell function. In addition to his research and teaching activities, Dr Hotchin is also currently Director of the ...

Damon Huber is interested in using a combination of biochemistry and molecular genetics to address complex biological problems in bacteria. The research in his lab is focused on the transport of proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane by the Sec machinery in bacteria, protein folding, and the connection between folding and transport. Damon is a Birmingham Fellow who joined the Institute of ...

Eva Hyde’s research interests are how proteins recognise their appropriate ligands; this includes the recognition of substrates by enzymes and the binding of proteins to their cognate operator DNA and to other proteins. She has extensive experience in NMR spectroscopy and complementary biophysical techniques, such as fluorescence and circular dichroism, and, more recently, in small angle ...

Dr Aditi Kanhere’s research focuses on understanding how non-coding RNA, transcription factors and epigenetic modifications regulate gene expression changes in normal and diseased conditions. Her laboratory integrates cutting-edge genomics technologies with computational methods to understand mechanisms of transcription regulation in cancer.

Anne-Marie Krachler joined the University of Birmingham as a Birmingham Fellow and EMBO Fellow in 2012 and is based at the Institute of Microbiology and Infection within the School of Biosciences. Her lab studies interactions between bacterial pathogens and their host and how this knowledge can be used to fight bacterial infections and gain novel insight into eukaryotic signaling ...

Dr Jan-Ulrich Kreft is a microbiologist turned mathematical modeller.

Dr Leach joined the University of Birmingham as a Birmingham Fellow in 2012 and is based in the Plant Genetics and Cell Biology group in the School of Biosciences. Her work involves using statistical genetics and bioinformatic approaches to dissecting the genetic architecture of quantitative trait variation.

Dr Julia Lodge is the First Year Tutor and is involved in teaching at all levels in the School of Biosciences. She is also the College of Life and environmental Sciences College enhancement Fellow. 

I am a recently appointed lecturer and my research interests involve utilising structural biology (and related techniques) to investigate protein function – many of these projects involve the unusual predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio; see “Research” below and be enthused!

Our research focusses on stress responses, using prokaryotes as model systems, and using a range of appropriate methods to understand both the mechanistic details and the adaptive significance of different aspects of organismal responses to stress.

Professor Zewei Luo is one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of Statistical Genetics. Research of his team has been focused on genetics of quantitative traits through theoretical and empirical approaches.

Lynne Macaskie has been working for more than 25 years on applications of microorganisms in various areas of Biotechnology for the Environment. Her interests range from bioremediation of xenobiotics and heavy metals through to nuclear waste treatment and biomineral encapsulation and barrier agents for this.

Over the last 15 years she has moved into hydrogen ...

Dr Roisin Madigan teaches on a variety of courses in Biosciences and the Medical School, with particular interest in problem-based learning.  She is the Senior Tutor, Welfare Tutor and Head of Quality Assurance in Biosciences.

Nigel Maxted is a Senior Lecturer in Plant Genetic Conservation, with specific expertise in in situ and ex situ conservation techniques.

I am Reader in Infectious Disease and Lister Fellow in the School of Biosciences. My research centres on human infectious diseases, with a particular focus on the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions.

Dr Steve Minchin has an interest in transcriptional control at both the molecular and genomic level. He has a strong interest in research-led teaching, innovation and quality management. In 2009 he was awarded the Head of Schools’ Award for Excellence in Teaching and Supporting Student Learning.

Dr Julia Myatt is currently a lecturer (teaching focused) at the University of Birmingham teaching various aspects of zoology at an undergraduate level.

Her research interests have focused on the morphology-behaviour-habitat interface in non-human Great Apes (as part of the LEBL group in Biosciences) and the collective behavior of group-living animals, including ...

I am a senior lecturer in Biology at the University of Birmingham. My research career started with roots in Wales and currently focuses on aphids in Birmingham with stops in the USA, New Zealand and Europe in between. My teaching spans field ecology through to plant functional genomics.

As a card-carrying Darwinist I am involved in teaching evolution at ...

Dr Steve Publicover is an internationally-recognised expert on sperm physiology and signalling events in sperm initiated by sperm-egg interaction.

For over fifteen years Dr Rappoport's research has focused upon the mechanisms by which biologically relevant molecules traffic into and out of cells.  In particular Dr Rappoport's lab develops and applies innovative microscopy techniques to visualise the internalisation into cells of cargo relevant to human health.  Along with collaborators at The University of ...

Dr Jim Reynolds has worked on the reproductive biology and the nutritional ecology of birds from many different and diverse orders including passerines, geese, grouse, kingfishers and terns. He has worked in North America and in mainland Europe in investigating how human activity influences food availability and the resulting changes in avian reproductive investment and life histories. He employs ...

My prime research interest is how the information encoded in chromosomes instructs building of the most complex organ, the brain, and allows an organism to perform elaborate tasks.

Professor Thomas joined the University of Birmingham in 1980 as a Lecturer in the Department of Genetics and has been Professor of Molecular Genetics since 1991. He is an internationally recognised authority on bacterial plasmid and mobile DNA and within the university has championed Biotechnology. He was also a founder of the successful Medici Programme that encourages development of ...

Dr Thorpe's expertise lies in the field of ecmorphology. Her research is about understanding how organisms get to be built the way they are built, and the consequences of their design for patterns of resource use, interactions with other species, and for patterns of evolution. Specific themes in her lab at present are the evolution of human bipedalism; how animals (including humans) ...

Dr Mike Tomlinson has an international reputation in the two fields of platelets and cell surface biology, and has published in numerous edited books and scientific journals in these areas. He has been invited to speak at major international conferences, including Gordon Research and FASEB Summer Conferences in the United States, and organised the 4^thEuropean Conference on Tetraspanins in ...

Professor Mark Viant’s expertise lies in the field of metabolomics. His research spans from method development in analytical chemistry and bioinformatics through to the application of metabolomics to environmental toxicology.

Professor Mark Wheatley has an international reputation for his research into the structure and function of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). He has national and international collaborations with both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr Scott White is an experienced structural biologist speciallising in the application of x-ray crystallography to the structure and function of enzymes and their substrate, inhibitor or drug-bound complexes. He is also a Welfare Tutor and the Mitigations Officer for the School of Biosciences. He is the coordinator of the UK Midland's Block Allocation Group (BAG) for the European Synchrotron ...