Queen’s University researchers to benefit from £18 million investment in world-class bioscience
Researchers from Queen’s are among top UK scientists selected to share an £18M pot of UK government funding to pursue transformational bioscience – including potentially paving the way for next-generation antibiotics and other treatments for disease.
Funded under the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC) strategic Longer Larger grants programme (sLoLa), four teams were selected from UK universities to tackle bold challenges at the frontiers of bioscience, combining world-class ideas, people and transformative technologies with the aim of uncovering fundamental rules of life.
Dr Stephen Cochrane, Reader at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Queen’s is a Co-Investigator on one of the four successful teams. Led by Professor David Roper from the University of Warwick, this team will investigate the bacterial cell wall and how bacteria ‘elongate’ during cell division. This work is not only critical in terms of fundamental science but could help provide the underlying research for new types of antibiotics, helping in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
Cell walls are essential for the survival of most bacteria and they dictate bacteria shape. They are mostly made of a compound called peptidoglycan which binds together to form new wall material by a combination of proteins known as the ‘elongasome’. Remarkably, scientists know very little about how this important protein complex functions at a molecular level. This represents a key knowledge-gap in the understanding of bacterial physiology.
Through a combination of microbial biochemistry, biophysics, and chemical biology, the team aims to provide new insights into and understanding of how the bacterial cell wall is formed. It may also lay the foundations for new classes of antibiotics that inhibit the elongasome machinery.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Stephen Cochrane from Queen’s said: “We're thrilled to receive this prestigious funding award, which allows us to work with our collaborators at University of Warwick to tackle a fundamental question in bioscience. This collaboration forges a strong link between two outstanding research hubs.
“This is a first sLoLa award for Northern Ireland and a key part of the UK government’s levelling-up strategy, as I understand it. It brings investment and opportunity to our region and will really fortify our expertise in Chemical Biology at Queen’s and in Northern Ireland.”
Professor David Roper from the University of Warwick said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to apply an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to a understand how bacteria make and control their cell walls that may provide us with the knowledge and tools to develop new antibiotics. The provision of this five-year funding means we can all work together in a way that is not normally possible”.
The investment from the BBSRC’s sLoLa programme aims to catalyse and convene the critical mass of research effort needed to address significant fundamental questions in bioscience.
Professor Guy Poppy, Interim Executive Chair at BBSRC, added: “The latest investment by BBSRC’s sLoLa award programme represents a pivotal step in advancing frontier bioscience research.
“These four world-class teams are poised to unravel the fundamental rules of life, employing interdisciplinary approaches to tackle bold challenges at the forefront of bioscience.
“By fostering collaboration and innovation, we aim to catalyse ground-breaking discoveries with far-reaching implications for agriculture, health, biotechnology, the green economy and beyond.”
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Media inquiries to Una Bradley on u.bradley@qub.ac.uk