Dr Liz Court

Research Interests

My PhD was carried out with Professor Catherine Biggs and Dr Stuart Hunt at the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at the University of Sheffield. The project focussed on synthetic biology applications of Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1; investigating construct assembly and characterising the chassis organism for use in a water environment, namely drinking water and wastewater in the UK.

I then moved to the Dental School and started a short project with Graham Stafford and FUJIFILM, investigating protein secretion of industry relevant proteins through the T3SS. This project involved predominantly molecular biology, synthetic biology and protein secretion techniques.

I am now working with Graham Stafford on a Twenty65 project investigation potential applications of bacteria to tackle the FATBERG problem in wastewater systems, whereby fats oil and grease (FOGs) accumulate leading to blockages and flooding. This focusses on both synthetic biology techniques and approaches, investigation into the microbiome of wastewater system, and interesting isolates at high FOG areas.