The SBRG covers a range of priority areas that humanity needs to solve in the 21st century, including:
- Sustainable materials for regenerative medicine with emphasis on musculoskeletal health, biomaterials and cell therapy production. Contact persons are Prof Brendon Noble and Dr Pooja Basnett.
- Clean water and sanitation: These are being addressed by developing microbial fuel cells as standalone systems or integrated with other systems for sustainable wastewater management, including resource recovery. Contact person is Dr Godfrey Kyazze.
- Affordable and clean energy: Research is ongoing on the generation of biofuels from sustainable resources. Examples of biofuels we work on are: second generation bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomethane produced from biodegradable waste (waste valorisation). Contact persons are Dr Godfrey Kyazze, Dr Namdar Baghaei-Yazdi and Dr Muhammad Javed.
- Enhancing bioproduct yields in fermenters using quorum sensing and bioprocess engineering approaches. Example products are lovastatin (a cholesterol lowering agent) and environmentally sustainable dyes like bioindigo. Contact persons are Prof Taj Keshavarz and Dr Godfrey Kyazze.
- Sustainable production of biodegradable plastics. The aim here is to improve the yield and productivity of the bioplastics from cheap/renewable substrates as well as tailor the properties of the polymers formed to a particular end application. Contact persons are Dr Pooja Basnett and Prof Taj Keshavarz.
- Bioremediation of contaminants from the environment. Currently we are working on plastic degradation and cleaning up petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites using microbial electrochemistry approaches. Contact persons are Dr Godfrey Kyazze and Prof Taj Keshavarz
- Astrobiology – investigating life beyond earth. Contact person is Prof Lewis Dartnell.
- Marine biology including bioprospecting for bioactive molecules from marine resources and investigation of marine biotoxins. Contact person is Dr Linda Percy.
- Plant molecular farming – using plants like tobacco for production of diagnostics and drugs for diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. Contact person is Dr Cathy Moore.
- Plant biochemistry – investigation of plant cell wall structure and resistance of plants to drought. Contact person is Dr Stuart Thompson.
- Contribution of apoptotic cell death to connective tissue disease and tissue repair after wounding. Contact person is Ian Locke.