UCL DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Biochemical Engineering

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Darren Nesbeth

Lecturer in Synthetic and Molecular Biology
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Masters Degree Tutor

Phone: + 44 (0)20 7679 3507
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7916 3943
d.nesbeth@ucl.ac.uk

Education

PhD Molecular Cell Biology, Imperial College London (1999).
BSc (Hons) Molecular Biology, UCL (1995)

Professional Appointments, Honours and Awards

Co-Chair, Synthetic Biology Task Group, European Federation of Biotechnology (2011)

Judging Committee, iGEM Europe (2011)

Steering Committee Member, UCL SynBion Synthetic Biology Network (2010)

Affiliate Member, Institution of Chemical Engineers (2010)

Member, Biochemical Society (2010)

Member, Society for General Microbiology (2010)

Editorial Board, Enzyme Engineering (2011)

Editorial Board, Journal of Bioprocessing & Biotechniques (2011)

EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UCL (2007-2009)

MRC Postdoctoral Research Associate, Imperial College London (2005-2007)

BBSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, King’s College London (2001-2004)

Financial Communications Consultant, WPP Group (2000-2001)

Research Interests

Darren Nesbeth’s research focuses on applying engineering principles to the re-design of living cells to enhance biosynthesis of small molecules and processing of large molecule 'biologic' biopharmaceuticals. He has extensive experience in harnessing molecular biology, intracellular trafficking and protein engineering to construct useful biological devices in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic systems.

Experience working in the City of London informs Darren's focus on applying academic research to improve the bottom line for UK technology companies. In collaborations with UK SMEs such as BJS Biotechnologies and Cogent Ltd Darren is applying cell and molecular biology to address commercial challenges in bio-manufacturing and diagnostics.

In collaboration with Prof. Gary Lye and Dr Frank Baganz, Darren is developing whole-cell biocatalysts using Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Gene Networks (SGNs) as part of the Bioconversion Chemistry-Engineering Interface (BiCE). Within the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC), Darren also works with Prof. John Ward and Prof. Eli Keshavarz-Moore on host cell engineering strategies to improve bioprocessing of biologics by enabling step change or step removal of unit operations.

Darren's research spans pure and applied uses of Synthetic Biology through collaboration with Prof. Alexey Zaikin (UCL Mathematics) to investigate fundamental biological and statistical properties of SGNs and work with Prof. Kerry Chester (UCL Cancer Institute) to enhance the manufacturability of novel 'bench-to-bedside' therapeutics.

Teaching and Training Activities

Darren teaches applied molecular and cellular biology to undergraduates and Masters students. He also spearheads UCL participation in the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition and serves as a competition Judge. The iGEM competition provides an opportunity to teams of undergraduate students to work throughout the summer on synthetic biology research projects.

Recent publications

*If you would like further information on any of these publications or news of related research, please contact d.nesbeth@ucl.ac.uk

Nesbeth DN, Perez-Pardo MA, Ali S, Ward J, Keshavarz-Moore E, 2012. Growth and productivity impacts of periplasmic nuclease expression in an Escherichia coli Fab' fragment production strain. Biotechnol Bioeng. 109:517-527

Powis SJ, Nesbeth D, Lenart I, Fussell H, Lamb T, Gould K, Antoniou AN, 2009. Rapid acidification and alkylation: redox analysis of the MHC class I pathway. J Immunol Methods. 340(1):81-5.

Balasundaram B., Nesbeth D., Ward, J.M., Keshavarz-Moore E., Bracewell, D.G., 2009. Step change in the efficiency of centrifugation through cell engineering: Co-expression of Staphylococcal nuclease to reduce the viscosity of the bioprocess feedstock. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 104(1):134-42.

Fussell H, Nesbeth D, Lenart I, Campbell EC, Lynch S, Santos S, Gould K, Powis SJ, Antoniou AN, 2008. Novel detection of in vivo HLA-B27 conformations correlates with ankylosing spondylitis association. Arthritis Rheum. 58(11):3419-24.

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