Join members from the team leading the Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering Biology (P3EB) Mission Hub as they provide an overview of their expansive engineering biology programme.
You can expect to learn more about:
- the aims and objectives of this Engineering Biology Mission Hub
- research and innovation activities taking place across the consortium
- opportunities to engage with the programme.
There will be an opportunity within the webinar for attendees to pose questions to the Mission Hub team.
This webinar is part of a series taking place over 2025 and 2026.
Each webinar will feature members from one of the six UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Engineering Biology Mission Hub teams.
About the P3EB Mission Hub
The P3EB Hub mission is to harness engineering biology to tackle the major environmental challenge of plastic pollution.
Plastics, with their highly durable nature, are essential materials in our daily lives, with applications ranging from healthcare to transportation.
However, this durability means that plastic waste, once in the environment, becomes a persistent pollutant threatening wildlife, ecosystems, and human health.
Recycling plastic waste goes some way to addressing this environmental challenge, but many conventional approaches rely on inefficient processes that release greenhouse gas emissions or derive a lower quality product than the starting material.
These issues disincentivise plastic recycling.
A powerful alternative approach is the use of enzymes to break down plastics into the individual building blocks, or ‘monomers’, that they’re made of.
These plastic monomers are then used to regenerate plastic that is of the same quality as the starting material.
Plastic monomers can even be repurposed and used to produce higher-value chemicals such as fuels or drugs.
Although enzyme-driven plastic recycling offers a promising alternative to conventional approaches, further innovations are required to enhance efficiencies and broaden the range of plastic types which can be targeted through this method.
The P3EB Mission Hub aims to deliver these innovations using cutting-edge engineering biology approaches.
The hub team will engineer enzymes to impart favourable plastic-degrading characteristics, such as reduced reaction time and energy consumption.
Deploying advanced metagenomic sampling across plastic-polluted and extreme environments, the team will also look to discover new enzymes with the potential to break down different plastics.
Further, P3EB researchers will develop new engineered microbes capable of turning plastic monomers into an expanded portfolio of high-value products.
Ultimately, this Mission Hub aims to realise a future where plastic does not become waste, and can even be turned into more valuable products, supporting clean growth and a global transition to a circular plastic economy.
The P3EB Mission Hub is led by Professor Andy Pickford at University of Portsmouth, in collaboration with partners at:
- Bangor University
- Imperial College London
- The University of Manchester
- University College London
- University of Cambridge
- The University of Edinburgh
- University of Portsmouth
Target audience
This webinar is targeted primarily at communities within the engineering biology and biotechnology research and innovation ecosystem, for example:
- researchers
- innovators
- businesses
- investors
- policymakers
This webinar will also appeal to those working within the waste management and biomanufacturing sectors.
However, we encourage anyone with an interest in how UK researchers and innovators are using engineering biology to address real-world challenges to attend.
UKRI Engineering Biology Mission Hubs
In 2024, UKRI invested over £70 million in six Engineering Biology Mission Hubs.
Engineering Biology Mission Hubs are significant, long-term investments that promise to unlock the potential of engineering biology across a broad range of applications in the areas of:
- biomedicine
- clean growth
- environmental solutions
- food systems
Each of the six Mission Hubs aim to drive engineering biology towards tangible, mission-orientated impacts including economic and societal.
They will do this through a variety of activities, such as:
- research and innovation
- translation and commercialisation
- training
- cross-sector engagement
The Mission Hubs are supported through the Technology Missions Fund (TMF) programme, a joint initiative between UKRI and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
The aim of the TMF programme is to accelerate technology development, adoption, and diffusion, while cementing the UK’s global leadership in critical technologies.
This programme builds on over £800 million of UKRI investment in engineering biology since 2007. You can find out more about our long-term support for this area through our recent showcase.