Dr Alexander Darlington from the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick has received one of sixteen fellowships in the 20th cohort of Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowships. His research focusses on engineering and biotechnology and addresses key challenges to the industrialisation of engineered microbes.

The research he will embark upon includes designing new genetic control systems which dynamically balance growth with engineered function to maintain good performance over real-world timescales. Working with industrial partners he is applying these methods to the biomanufacture of high value chemicals, allowing everyday chemicals to be produced from agricultural waste products instead of petrochemical feedstocks.

Professor Jose Gutierrez-Marcos and an international team of researchers have uncovered the mechanism that allows plants to pass on their ‘memories’ to offspring, which results in growth and developmental defects.

Press Release (1 December 2020)

101 seed samples from 18 different types of crop species including onions, carrots and cauliflower are to be deposited at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Arctic Norway on the 31st October 2018, from the UK Vegetable Genebank (UKVGB) at the University of Warwick.
 
Press Release