Dr Neil DixonMChem, PhD

Research interests

My research interests span chemical biology, molecular detection/recognition, gene regulation and synthetic biology. We are currently exploring a number of research areas including i) the application of novel riboswitch-based gene expression tools, and the development of tuneable recombinant protein production systems, ii) optimisation of cellular protein expression and secretion processes, iii) the fundamentals of small molecule-RNA-protein interactions, and iv) the development and application of whole cell biosensors to detection small molecules of bio-medical and biotechnological interest.

The driver of these applied research areas is the development of new chemical and synthetic biology tools to both i) help understand fundamental biological processes, ii) permit more efficient protein production process, and iii) optimise whole-cell bio-catalytic processes supporting the bio-based economy.