Sustainability
Using enzymes to clean up the environment
Our research has discovered a new environmentally friendly method to improve the decontamination process and reduce pollution.
Dr Diane Purchase, Professor of Environmental Biotechnology, looks at ways to remove toxic substances and clean up contaminated land. Her research team has isolated a specific organism that could destroy the infectivity of infectious protein particles that are resistant to conventional sterilisation and decontamination procedures.
Potential uses for decontamination across industries
This discovery could reduce our reliance on traditional methods, like incineration, thermal and alkaline breakdown, that are potentially hazardous and polluting to the environment. Our results suggest many other potential uses beyond land, like the decontamination of high-cost surgical instruments so that they can be re-used. This sustainable approach minimises waste and there is extra income from the resulting by-product too.
Professor Diane Purchase and her research
Professor Diane Purchase is a Professor of Environmental Biotechnology. She is the Honorary Secretary of the Committee of the Heads of Environmental Sciences in the UK and a Fellow of the Institution of Environmental Sciences. She has keen interest on the role of biotechnology in pollution control and bioremediation.
Comparing gut microorganisms in human babies and adults
Our Biomedical Sciences Research team has explored factors that affect the level of microorganisms in the gut. There are certain types of bacteria that are linked with beneficial effects on human health, however there are lots of different factors that adversely affect population levels of the bacteria.
Using scientific findings to promote a healthy lifestyle
Our research group measured the level of bifidobacteria in gut microbiota in adults and babies to find out more about what can change the level of this important microorganism in the gut.
The group concluded that a combination of age, dietary fibre intake, BMI, and smoking influenced the levels of bifidobacteria in adults, while in babies the levels were influenced by age and consumption of breast or bottle milk.
More about the research team
Dr Azra Pachenari is a senior lecturer in the Department of Natural Sciences.
Dr Beata Burczynska is a senior lecturer in Biomedical Science.
Shadi Khonsari is a senior Graduate Academic Assistant in the Department of Natural Sciences.
The research team
Dr Azra Pachenari is a senior lecturer in the Department of Natural Sciences.
Dr Beata Burczynska is a senior lecturer in Biomedical Science.
Shadi Khonsari is a senior Graduate Academic Assistant in the Department of Natural Sciences.
Addressing the suburban challenge through research
Through our research, we provide insight into the everyday lives of the suburban population as it becomes more diverse. People from different socio-economic and ethno-cultural backgrounds are settling here in a period of continued suburban growth but they're often overlooked by policy makers and cultural commentators.
Dr Magali Peyrefitte leads this work to look at different aspects of change in suburbs in the UK and France. Her research gives a voice to those whose stories are rarely sought.
Benefits for politicians, planners and the public
This work gives politicians and planners an indication of where services need to be improved in our suburbs. It broadens our public knowledge of increasing social, economic and political importance of the suburbs. Dr Peyrefitte’s more recent work also looks at the current housing crisis in London in relation to new forms of mass suburbanisation.
Dr Magali Peyrefitte and her research
Dr Magali Peyrefitte is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Criminology and Sociology. Her research focuses on how identity and power relations are affected and transformed within everyday spaces, in cities as well as in the home. With a commitment for greater social justice, she has looked at identity, home and belonging in cities at the intersection of different social categories (gender, sexuality, ethnicity and class). She is also developing a scholarship in the pedagogy of the urban multicultural classroom.
