Research in the School of Chemistry and Biosciences

Welcome message from Prof Anne Graham, Head of School

The School of Chemistry and Biosciences has a vibrant research community with a broad range of complementary expertise across chemistry and biological sciences targeted at solving global problems related to disease and the environment. Our research approach encourages interdisciplinary working within and across several research specialties. These groupings are highly collaborative, working together aligned to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Good health and wellbeing, Clean water and sanitation, and Affordable clean energy. Through international and UK government funding, our Analytical Centre has recently expanded providing world class equipment to deliver services to industry, contributing to UN SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure. This means our research is making a difference to local businesses and the community, supporting research and development. We also host the Centre for Skin Sciences with a focus on skin microbiome and ageing and the Plastic Surgery and Burns Unit, a charity undertaking wound healing research. We collaborate widely externally, publishing our work in high quality journals. Our team are fully represented in the Faculty of Life Sciences research themes with postholders as Director and Deputy Director and we are training the next generation of scientists through our PhD programmes of research.

Research areas

The research in the school is organised in several research areas that form the basis for multidisciplinary, cutting-edge research. In addition, the School of Chemistry and Biosciences hosts two outstanding research centres and a range of excellent facilities.

Thermotoga maritime is a bacterium found in hot springs and hydrothermal vents. This is the structure of an aminotransferase protein (Histidinol-phosphate aminotransferase (HisC) from Thermotoga maritima (apo-form)) extracted from the bacteria

Chemical Biology and Biophysics

Cells grown on hydrogel, A light microscope magnification of fibroblast cells growing on a hydrogel substrate - taken from a PhD student working for Professor Rimmer and used with his permission.

Cell and Molecular Biology

A high resolution optical photograph of a crystal growing on a surface. This is capturing the nucleation as salts precipitate out of solution and form solid surfaces, and is a key underpinning theme in our Chemistry tuition

Materials Chemistry

Copy_of_K_pneumoniae_from_skin, These images are Michael Porter's - UG Bio Med booklet

Microbiology and Biotechnology

Computational Chemistry lab in Analytical Centre

Computational Research

Centre for Skin Sciences

Centre for Chemical and Biological Analysis

Postgraduate research opportunities

Our research positions, both MSc and PhD, are highly multidisciplinary and we work closely with our colleagues in other schools across the Faculty of Life Sciences. Graduate students training for either discipline can expect to get training in a wealth of experimental techniques and a chance to expose themselves to a full range of interdisciplinary scientific studies. A list of currently advertised PhD positions as well as information how to apply and who to contact is available here: Current PhD positions.