Professor Nigel Scrutton appointed to BBSRC council
Professor Nigel Scrutton, who heads up the EPSRC-funded UK Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub and the BBSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre "SYNBIOCHEM", has been appointed to the UKRI-BBSRC council for a term of three years.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) which invests in biosciences research and training to support the economy, job creation, and to improve quality of life not only in the UK but on a global level.
The BBSRC council is responsible for advising and making decisions across its key discipline areas including budgeting and delivering plans for research and innovation; ensuring there are future generations of skilled specialists and scientists to support the UK research and innovation sector; engaging with communities and disseminating information; and encouraging collaborative work across the nine UKRI councils.
Speaking about the appointment, Professor Scrutton said:
I am honoured to be joining the BBSRC council and to contribute to creating real solutions to the global challenges we are facing today. With experience in academia and industry, I hope to bring research expertise and industrial acumen to further strengthen the BBSRC’s work and deliver a real, and positive difference to the people of the UK.
Professor Scrutton brings a wide range of biochemistry and senior leadership skills to the BBSRC. Most recently he was the Director of the 91直播 Institute of Biotechnology, for which he and the Institute were recognised for their work with a Queen's Anniversary Prize. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2020 and has held a professorship at the University since 2005, previously holding the position of Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health (formerly the Faculty of Life Sciences).
Through his directorship of the University Centres of Excellence - SYNBIOCHEM and FutureBRH - and spin-out company C3 BioTechnologies Ltd, his work spans areas such as enzyme chemistry, biophysical methods, and structural and synthetic biology, that contribute to understanding the chemistry of life. Through the world-leading infrastructure for biophysical chemistry and synthetic biology at the University, Professor Scrutton's work takes an interdisciplinary approach to solving some of today's grand challenges.
Industrial biotechnology is one of the five research beacons at The University of Manchester, which are examples of interdisciplinary and pioneering research that are finding solutions to global problems. #ResearchBeacons.