University of Nottingham, with Lucite International

The PhD challenge:

Applications are invited from UK/EU students for an Industrial CASE studentship, co-sponsored by Lucite International. The project forms part of a large collaborative project to develop bio-based methylmethacrylate (MMA) using sustainable feedstocks, rather than relying on fossil fuels. Lucite is the world’s largest manufacturer of MMA, which is used as the monomer to manufacture Perspex and related polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-based materials and coatings. We have designed, constructed and tested metabolically engineered microorganisms to produce various candidate intermediate compounds for MMA production (see e.g., PCT/GB2014/052389), and Lucite has selected the most promising intermediate for future manufacturing. This intermediate compound is toxic towards the producing cells, and the cells are gradually poisoned as the product accumulates. Ultimately, production stops when the concentration reaches a “lethal threshold”. You will identify a compound-selective efflux pump protein which will solve this bottleneck by exporting the toxic intermediate out of the cells. The pump will maintain the cytoplasmic concentration below the lethal threshold, allowing us to produce much higher yields, and opening the door to bio-based MMA production. Candidate efflux pumps will be identified using Next Generation sequencing and transcriptomics, and fully characterized using membrane transporter assays for kinetics, substrate range and selectivity. A synthetic biology approach will then be used to incorporate the pumps into the intermediate-producing biocatalysts, and the new strains will be tested for enhanced bio-production of the intermediate.  

The studentship. 

The project will be co-supervised by Prof. Gill Stephens and Dr Ian Kerr, with Dr Graham Eastham at Lucite as the industrial supervisor.  Applicants should have or expect to obtain a first or upper second undergraduate degree or MSc with distinction (or EU equivalents) in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, or a related discipline. This 4 year project is co-funded by EPSRC and Lucite; the basic stipend (£14,210) will be enhanced by £2500. You will be part of the Biorenewables and Bioprocessing group in the Faculty of Engineering and the membrane transport group in the School of Life Sciences, working in laboratories fully equipped for molecular biology, membrane protein biochemistry, fermentation technology and analytical chemistry.

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