Gary Lye
Professor of Biochemical Engineering
Deputy Head of Department
Director of Industrial Doctoral Training Centre (IDTC) for Bioprocessing Engineering Leadership
Phone: +44 (0)20 7679 7942
Fax: +44 (0)20 7209 0703
g.lye@ucl.ac.uk
Education
PhD Biochemical Engineering, University of Reading (1992)
BSc (Hons) Biotechnology, University of Reading (1989)
Professional Appointments, Honours and Awards
Chemical Engineering Research Fellow, Imperial College London (1993-1995)
Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Edinburgh (1995-1996)
Esso Engineering Teaching Fellow, University College London (1998-2001)
Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers
Chair, IChemE Biochemical Engineering Subject Group Committee (2005-2009)
Member, UK Government Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team (2008 - 2009)
Member, BBSRC Peer Review Pool (2008 - 2010)
Member, EPSRC Peer Review College (2006 - to date)
Editorial Board Member for Biocatalysis and Biotransformation
Editorial Board Member for Biochemical Engineering Journal
Editorial Board Member for Biotechnology Letters
Editorial Board Member for Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
Research Interests
Gary Lye leads the UCL Bioconversion-Chemistry-Engineering Interface (BiCE) Programme. This involves a multidisciplinary group of researchers interested in novel approaches to speed the development of the next generation of complex pharmaceuticals and methods to aid the uptake and integration of biocatalysis in pharmaceutical syntheses. The programme brings together a group of researchers from three UCL faculties with a long history of collaboration including Professor John Ward (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) and Dr Helen Hailes (Chemistry) together with Dr Frank Baganz, Dr Paul Dalby, Dr Martina Micheletti, Dr. Darren Nesbeth and Dr Nicolas Szita (Biochemical Engineering). It is supported by a group of 13 leading national and international companies who comprise the BiCE Industrial Steering Group.
A major focus of Gary’s work is the creation of novel automated micro biochemical approaches to speed bioprocess design and optimisation. This has been facilitated by a recent £4.5M investment in the UCL Centre for Micro Biochemical Engineering which he manages. The research focuses on the detailed engineering characterisation of automated microwell systems in order to enable accurate predictions of large scale process performance. These predictions can then be verified in the department’s large scale bioprocessing facilities. Related studies have addressed miniature stirred bioreactor technologies which have now been commercialised.
In collaboration with BiCE colleagues these micro biochemical engineering approaches are being applied to the evaluation of both evolved and metabolically engineered biocatalysts and integrated chemo-enzymatic syntheses. Studies as part of the IMRC in Bioprocessing and in collaboration with the UK Health Protection Agency (Porton Down) have helped established the manufacture of a new meningococcal vaccine which is now in clinical trials. Most recently collaboration with Dr Chris Mason and Dr Farlan Veraitch within the RegenMed programme has led to studies on the automated expansion and differentiation of stem cells for use in drug screening and human cell therapy.
Funding for the above research has come from the UK EPSRC, the TSB Technology Programme and a range of company collaborators.
Teaching and Training Activities
Gary’s current teaching activities span all years of the various undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes operated by the Department. These include Introduction to Biochemical Engineering, Integrated Downstream Processing, and Design and Control of Biochemical Reactors. He also co-ordinates and teaches on a number of the department's post-experience MBI® training modules covering aspects of fermentation, downstream processing and biocatalysis and industrial biotechnology. Recent BBSRC Modular Training for Industry grants helped establish a new MBI® modules on Design of Experiments for Bioprocess Optimisation and Vaccine Bioprocessing.
In terms of administrative roles Gary is coordinator of the MSc Biochemical Engineering programme which also receives BBSRC support in the form of a Masters Training Grant. He is also tutor to final-year MEng students. A particular focus of the latter role is a drive to increase the internationalisation of student learning via the development of study abroad programmes (shared with Frank Baganz and Martina Micheletti).
Selected Publications
*If you would like further information on any of these publications or news of related research, please contact g.lye@ucl.ac.uk
Silk, N.J., Denby, S., Lewis, G., Kuiper, M., Hatton, D., Field, R., Baganz, F. and Lye, G.J. (2010) Fed-batch operation of a GS-CHO cell culture process in shaken microwells. Biotech. Lett., 32: 73-78. (DOI: 10.1007/s10529-009-0124-0)
Matosevic, S., Lye, G.J. and Baganz, F. (2010) Design and characterization of a prototype enzyme microreactor: Quantification of immobilized transketolase kinetics. Biotech. Prog., 26: 118-126.
Barrett, T., Zhang, H., Wu, A., Levy, M.S. and Lye, G.J. (2010) Microwell evaluation of mammalian cell lines for large scale culture., Biotechnol. Bioeng., 105: 260-275.
Chen, B.H., Micheletti, M., Baganz, F., Woodley, J.M. and Lye, G.J. (2009) An efficient approach to bioconversion kinetic model generation based on automated microscale experimentation integrated with model driven experimental design. Chem. Eng. Sci., 64: 403-409.
Dalby, P.A., Baganz, F., Lye, G.J., and Ward, J.M. (2009). Protein and pathway engineering in biocatalysis. Chimica Oggi, 27: 18-22.
Zhang, H., Lamping, S.R., Pickering, S.C.R., Lye, G.J. and Ayazi-Shamlou, P. (2008) Engineering characterisation of a single well from 24- and 96-well microtitre plates. Biochem. Engng. J., 40: 138-149..
Mondragon-Teran, P., Lye, G.J. and Veraitch, F.S. (2009) Lowering oxygen tension enhances the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into neuronal cells, Biotechnol. Progr., 25: 1480-1488.
Wong, M., Wright, M, Woodley, J.M. and Lye, G.J. (2009) Enhanced recombinant protein synthesis in batch and fed-batch Escherichia coli fermentation based on removal of inhibitory acetate by electrodialysis. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 84: 1284-1291.
Torres-Martinez, D., Melgarejo-Torres, R., Gutierrez-Rojas, M., Aguilera-Vazquez, L., Micheletti, M. Lye, G.J. and Huerta-Ochoa, S. (2009) Hydrodynamic and oxygen mass transfer studies in a three-phase (air-water-ionic liquid) stirred tank bioreactor. Biochem. Engng. J., 45: 209-217.
Hussain, W., Pollard, D.J., Truppo, M. and Lye, G.J. (2008) Enzymatic ketone reductions with co-factor recycling: improved reactions with ionic liquid co-solvents. J. Mol. Cat. B: Enzymatic., 55: 19-29.
Gill, N.K., Appleton, M., Baganz, F. and Lye, G.J. (2008) Quantification of power consumption and oxygen transfer characteristics of a stirred miniature bioreactor for predictive fermentation scale-up. Biotechnol.Bioeng., 100: 1144-1155.
Veraitch, F.S., Scott, R., Wong, J-W, Lye, G.J. and Mason, C. (2008) The impact of manual processing on the expansion and directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Biotechnol. Bioeng., 99: 1216-1229.
Islam, R.S., Tisi, D., Levy, M.S. and Lye, G.J. (2008) Scale-up of E. coli growth and recombinant protein expression conditions from microwell to laboratory and pilot scale based on matched kLa. Biotechnol. Bioeng., 99: 1128-1139.
Gill, N.K., Appleton, M., Baganz, F. and Lye, G.J. (2008) Design and characterisation of a novel miniature bioreactor system for parallel microbial fermentation. Biochem. Engng. J., 39: 164-176.
Ingram, C.U., Bommer, M., Smith, M.E.B., Dalby, P.A., Ward, J.M., Hailes, H., and Lye, G.J. (2007) One-pot synthesis of amino diols using a de-novo transketolase and ß-alanine:pyruvate transaminase pathway in Escherichia coli. Biotechnol. Bioeng., 96: 559-569.
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