The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is investing more than £20 million to power four ambitious research projects that will deepen our understanding of life’s most fundamental processes.
These projects have been funded through BBSRC’s Strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grants scheme.
They represent a long-term commitment to curiosity-driven research that has the potential to transform our understanding of biology and spark innovation across sectors.
Understanding antibiotic resistance at its roots
Led by Jessica Blair (University of Birmingham)
Core team:
- Sara Jabbari and Tim Overton (University of Birmingham)
- Andrew Edwards (Imperial college London)
- Mark Webber (Quadram Institute Bioscience)
- Dong-Hyun Kim (University of Nottingham)
This project, entitled ‘Understanding the rules of impermeability in Gram negative bacteria’, explores how antibiotics penetrate the outer defences of Gram-negative bacteria, a key step in tackling antimicrobial resistance.
By uncovering how infection conditions influence antibiotic uptake, the team aims to open new avenues for developing more effective treatments and diagnostics.
Tapping into the unseen light of photosynthesis
Led by Bill Rutherford (Imperial College London)
Core team:
From Imperial College London:
- Andrea Fantuzzi
- Bennett Nwaobi
- Daniel Garcia-Medranda
- Giovanni Consoli
- James Murray
- Jasper van Thor
- Jenny Nelson
- Marco Leong
- Peter Nixon
- Qi Man
From The University of Sheffield:
- James Pidgeon
- Jenny Clark
- Peter Fletcher
From University of Liverpool:
- Daniel Canniffe
- Lorenz Fuchs
Titled ‘Long wavelength oxygenic photosynthesis’, this research examines how certain cyanobacteria can harness far-red light for photosynthesis.
The team’s work could help reveal how nature’s solar engine operates at the limits of energy efficiency and inspire future efforts to engineer crops and biotechnologies that capture light more effectively.
Decoding the genome’s hidden grammar
Led by Ferenc Mueller (University of Birmingham)
Core team:
- Csilla Várnai and Yavor Hadzhiev (University of Birmingham)
- Andy Yates (European Bioinformatics Institute)
- Boris Lenhard (Imperial College London)
- Benjamin Davies (The Francis Crick Institute)
- Jonathan Smith, Shipra Bhatia and Wendy Bickmore (The University of Edinburgh)
- Joshua James and Yizhi Cai (The University of Manchester)
‘The semantic rules of gene regulatory landscapes’ project investigates how gene regulation is encoded across large regions of DNA.
By integrating computational and experimental approaches, the team hopes to uncover the logic that governs vertebrate development and gene expression.
Revealing nature’s quantum compass
Led by Christiane Timmel (University of Oxford)
Core team:
From University of Oxford:
- Achillefs Kapanidis
- Andrew Baldwin
- Christopher Schofield
- Harrison Steel
- Justin Benesch
- Kevin Henbest
- Madhavi Krishnan
- Mark Hankins
- Rabea Bartoelke
- Sabine Huth-Rauschenbach
- Sanna Piippo-Henderson
- Stuart Mackenzie
- Stuart Peirson
From The University of Edinburgh:
- Matteo Degiacomi
From University of St Andrews:
- Hassane EL Mkami
- Janet Lovett
- Robert Hunter
The ‘Quantum sensing in nature and synthetic biology’ project researches how animals sense Earth’s magnetic field, a phenomenon rooted in quantum biology.
The project investigates how magnetosensitive proteins work and will apply this knowledge to engineer new magnetogenetic tools with potential biomedical uses.
Championing long-term discovery
Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, BBSRC Executive Chair, said:
Long-term investments through our sLoLa scheme bring researchers with different expertise together to collaboratively pursue questions whose answers may reshape our understanding of the living world.