Contact:
Neil C Bruce
Professor of Biotechnology
CNAP, Department of Biology (B/M219)
Wentworth Way
University of York
York
YO10 5DD
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1904 328777
E-mail: neil.bruce@york.ac.uk
http://www.york.ac.uk/org/
cnap/BruceGroup/
The Bruce Lab
Research overview
The research themes in our laboratory are microbial and plant biochemistry and environmental biotechnology. We are interested in the elucidation of metabolic pathways and our research continues with structural analysis and engineering of enzymes. A major focus of our research is to understand how microorganisms and plants metabolise xenobiotic compounds. We believe that a deeper knowledge in understanding how microorganisms and plants tackle pollutants is essential if we are to develop effective, low cost and sustainable processes for cleaning up the environment. Enzyme discovery and characterisation is central to our work. Being an applied lab, we are particularly interested in utilising the enzymes we discover for various applications such as discovering novel biocatalysts for synthetic chemistry, as recognition components in biosensors and for producing biofuels.
Specific projects:
1. Engineering plants for the phytoremediation of explosives
2. Elucidating mechanisms in plants for the detoxification of pollutants
3. Microbial metabolism of xenobiotic compounds
4. Mining genomes for novel biocatalysts
5. Enzyme discovery for the production of liquid biofuels
6. Developing biosensors for the detection of illicit drugs and explosives