ÌÇÐÄVlog

School of Life Sciences

Our Research

Woman wearing green gloves holding up a microscope slide

From genes through to the ecosystem

Our research covers the whole spectrum of biology – from genes and cells right through to communities and ecosystems.

With two research centres and four groups, we bring together like-minded researchers to share ideas, knowledge, laboratories and equipment in the pursuit of fundamental and applied research that addresses national and international priorities.

Our research groups also manage progression of postgraduate research degree students and career development of early career researchers, run seminar programmes, and are involved in international and national collaborations, contributing to a vibrant research environment.

The School has made significant investments in research infrastructure, providing researchers and students with well-equipped laboratories that house state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.

Research groups

Research Centres

A photo of the middle of a microscope, showing the three objectives lenses, the mechanical stage where samples are placed, and the top of the illuminator underneath.
View our latest research

Discover cutting edge research from the ÌÇÐÄVlog. Browse our site to find relevant publications, projects, groups, centres, PGR opportunities including research supervision and areas of interest. Simply search our site to find information relating to your subject.

Explore our research

Highlights of our research

Research showcase

Our research can help change lives, from early cancer diagnosis and better treatment, through to protecting marine environments and improving food security.

Press

Our academics have been featured in press in the UK and around the world, and have contributed articles to The Conversation including:

  • Professor Graham Underwood's article, "".
  • Professor Leo Schalkwyk co-wrote "".
  • Dr Tom Cameron focused on the impact of lead shot on wildlife in his article "".
  • Plant scientist Dr Amanda Cavanagh has questioned the role of plants in carbon emission mitigation, in her article ""

Selected papers

Ecology and Environmental Microbiology

  • Underwood, Graham and Michel, Christine and Meisterhans, Guillame and Niemi, Andrea and Belzile, Claude and Witt, Matthias and Dumbrell, Alex J and Koch, Boris P (2019) '' Nature Climate Change, 9. 170 - 176. ISSN 1758-678X 
  • O’Gorman, E., Zhao, L., Pichler, D. et al. '.' Nature Clim Change 7, 659–663 (2017). 
  • Hoyal Cuthill, JF and Guttenberg, N and Budd, GE (2020) '' Nature, 588 (7839). 636 - 641. ISSN 0028-0836 

Genomics and Computational Biology

  • Fellows, R and Denizot, J and Stellato, C and Cuomo, A and Jain, P and Stoyanova, E and Balázsi, S and Hajnády, Z and Liebert, A and Kazakevych, J and Blackburn, H and Corrêa, RO and Fachi, JL and Sato, FT and Ribeiro, WR and Ferreira, CM and Perée, H and Spagnuolo, M and Mattiuz, R and Matolcsi, C and Guedes, J and Clark, J and Veldhoen, M and Bonaldi, T and Vinolo, MAR and Varga Weisz, PD (2018) '' Nature Communications, 9. ISSN 2041-1723 
  • Clarkson, Christopher T and Deeks, Emma A and Samarista, Ralph and Mamayusupova, Hulkar and Zhurkin, Victor B and Teif, Vladimir B (2019) '' Nucleic Acids Research. ISSN 0305-1048 
  • Marzi, Sarah J and Leung, Szi Kay and Ribarska, Teodora and Hannon, Eilis and Smith, Adam R and Pishva, Ehsan and Poschmann, Jeremie and Moore, Karen and Troakes, Claire and Al-Sarraj, Safa and Beck, Stephan and Newman, Stuart and Lunnon, Katie and Schalkwyk, Leonard C and Mill, Jonathan (2018) '' Nature Neuroscience, 21 (11). 1618 - 1627. ISSN 1097-6256 

Plant Productivity

  • Lopez-Calcagno, Patricia E and Brown, Kenny L and Simkin, Andrew J and Fisk, Stuart J and Vialet-Chabrand, Silvere and Lawson, Tracy and Raines, Christine (2020) '' Nature Plants, 6. 1054 - 1063. ISSN 2055-026X 
  • Bowles, Alexander MC and Bechtold, Ulrike and Paps, Jordi (2020) '' Current Biology, 30 (3). 530 - 536.e2. ISSN 0960-9822 
  • Exposito-Rodriguez, M and Laissue, PP and Yvon-Durocher, G and Smirnoff, N and Mullineaux, PM (2017) '' Nature Communications, 8 (1). ISSN 2041-1723 

Protein Structure and Mechanisms of Disease

  • Domínguez-Medina, C Coral and Pérez-Toledo, Marisol and Schager, Anna E and Marshall, Jennifer L and Cook, Charlotte N and Bobat, Saeeda and Hwang, Hyea and Chun, Byeong Jae and Logan, Erin and Bryant, Jack A and Channell, Will M and Morris, Faye C and Jossi, Sian E and Alshayea, Areej and Rossiter, Amanda E and Barrow, Paul A and Horsnell, William G and MacLennan, Calman A and Henderson, Ian R and Lakey, Jeremy H and Gumbart, James C and López-Macías, Constantino and Bavro, Vassiliy N and Cunningham, Adam F (2020) '' Nature Communications, 11 (1). ISSN 2041-1723 
  • Liang, Yi-Lynn and Khoshouei, Maryam and Deganutti, Giuseppe and Glukhova, Alisa and Koole, Cassandra and Peat, Thomas S and Radjainia, Mazdak and Plitzko, Jürgen M and Baumeister, Wolfgang and Miller, Laurence J and Hay, Deborah L and Christopoulos, Arthur and Reynolds, Christopher A and Wootten, Denise and Sexton, Patrick M (2018) '' Nature, 561. 492 - 497. ISSN 0028-0836 
  • Kimata, N and Pope, A and Eilers, M and Opefi, CA and Ziliox, M and Hirshfeld, A and Zaitseva, E and Vogel, R and Sheves, M and Reeves, PJ and Smith, SO (2016) '' Nature Communications, 7. ISSN 2041-1723 
Get in touch
Departmental Director of Research Professor Alex Dumbrell
Liz Lee Reynolds Research Manager