DURHAM UNIVERSITY: Senior Analysis Technician

The Position and the Division

A laboratory technician submit (Grade 6) is out there for two years (full time, however with the choice for versatile working hours) within the laboratory of Professor Keith Lindsey, Division of Biosciences, Durham College to work on a multidisciplinary industrial biotechnology and bioengineering challenge on environmental processing and restoration of metals.

The world in 2040 is anticipated to want 4 occasions as many essential minerals/metals for clear energy applied sciences because it does at present. To realize this purpose, it’s clear that environmental processing and restoration of minerals and metals will play a essential strategic position not solely in sustainable useful resource management but in addition in waste discount, air pollution prevention, and the transition in the direction of a extra round and environmentally aware economic system. This challenge unites specialists from throughout the UK who possess data in important applied sciences associated to bio-extraction and bio-recovery of metals. We’ll collaborate to ascertain an open data Hub aimed toward enhancing ongoing tasks of engineered organisms at varied technology readiness ranges that deal with essential environmental points related to mineral extraction, city mining, industrial waste, and legacy nuclear waste. The Engineering Biology Hub goals to offer a robust suite of engineering biology instruments and approaches that symbolize sustainable and environment friendly options to deal with most of the environmental challenges regarding steel waste and metal-scarcity.

The technician will assist this challenge via the practical characterization of bacterially biorecovered copper nanoparticles (CuNPs). Bio-synthesised CuNPs symbolize a possible utility of biorecovery, as a part of a round economic system strategy to cut back the necessity for newly extracted copper and chemical processes for NP synthesis. We’ll 1) take a look at the power of biosynthesised CuNPs (utilizing Shewanella oneidensis) to duplicate the consequences of chemically synthesised CuNPs on plant root development (a bioassay for CuNP performance), and a pair of) use CuNPs from engineered S. oneidensis, optimised for NP manufacturing. This £12 M challenge, funded by the Biotechnology and Organic Sciences Analysis Council, hyperlinks with a second giant challenge with the water business, to develop methodologies to stop tree root ingress into constructed buildings, and the profitable candidate can have the chance to work with group members each inside Durham and in addition in different collaborating UK Universities.