Chris French
Contact details
- Tel: 0131 650 7098
- Email: C.French@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
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Rm. G23, Roger Land building
- City
- Post code
Background
1991 Research assistant, New Zealand Dairy Research Institute
1994 Ph.D., Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge
1994 - 1997 Post-doctoral research associate, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge
1998 - 2015 Lecturer and later Senior lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh
2015 - Present Professor of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh
Undergraduate teaching
Microorganisms, Cells & Immunity 2: Biology of bacteria; microbial biotechnology. Biotechnology 3: Water microbiology, microbial production of bulk and fine chemicals, synthetic biology. Biotechnology 4, Enzymology & Biological Processing: Bioreactors and biological processes, biosensors, synthetic biology.
- Origin and Diversity of Life 1: Diversity of microbial life.
Research summary
www.openwetware.org/wiki/Cfrench:labtoppage
http://frenchlab.bio.ed.ac.uk/
We are interested in synthetic biology, a new discipline at the interface of biology and engineering. With colleagues in the School of Engineering & Electronics, we are developing methods to engineer novel biological systems using modular 'parts' and standardized assembly methods. These can be applied to generate artificial genetic networks, in a process we call 'object-oriented genetics', and also to generate multiple variants of metabolic pathways, in a process we call 'combinatorial genetic engineering'. We are currently focusing on the following application areas:
- Development of biosensors for the detection of contaminants in the environment. For example, we have developed novel biosensors for the detection of arsenic in groundwater, a major public health issue in parts of Asia.
- Development of genetic modules for the efficient conversion of cellulosic biomass to useful products. Cellulosic biomass is abundant and renewable, but very difficult to degrade. We have generated various combinations of genes encoding biomass-degrading enzymes, which allow recombinant organisms to grow with cellulosic biomass as a source of carbon. These can be combined with other genetic modules which allow the formation of useful products such as biofuels and food ingredients.
In addition to these activities, our laboratory organizes the University of Edinburgh's entries in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM: see http://igem.org/Main_Page). We have had considerable success, winning prizes for Best Real World Application (2006), Best Model (2010, 2011) and Best Human Practices Advance (2011).
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Towards a circular bioeconomy: Engineering biology for effective assimilation of cellulosic biomass
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mim.2023.01.004
Research output: › Chapter (E-pub ahead of print) -
Reprogrammed tracrRNAs enable repurposing of RNAs as crRNAs and sequence-specific RNA biosensors
(12 pages)
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29604-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A preliminary life cycle analysis of bioethanol production using seawater in a coastal biorefinery setting
(18 pages)
In:
Processes, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9081399
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Joint universal modular plasmids (JUMP): A flexible vector platform for synthetic biology
(11 pages)
In:
Synthetic Biology, vol. 6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/synbio/ysab003
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
PaperClip DNA assembly: Reduce, reuse, recycle
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0908-8_10
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Joint universal modular plasmids: A flexible platform for golden gate assembly in any microbial host
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0908-8_15
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Hetero-trans-β-glucanase produces cellulose–1 xyloglucan covalent bonds in the cell walls of structural plant tissues and is stimulated by expansin
(16 pages)
In:
Molecular Plant, vol. 13, pp. 1047-1062
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.04.011
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Improving the productivity of bioethanol production using marine yeast and seawater-based media
In:
Biomass & Bioenergy, vol. 139
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2020.105615
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Engineering of industrially important microorganisms for assimilation of cellulosic biomass – towards Consolidated Bioprocessing
In:
Biochemical Society Transactions, vol. 47
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20190293
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
TXO: Transcription-only genetic circuits as a novel cell-free approach for synthetic biology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/826230
Research output: › Preprint (Published) -
Cascaded amplifying circuits enable ultrasensitive cellular sensors for toxic metals
(9 pages)
In:
Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 15, pp. 540–548
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-019-0244-3
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
ParAlleL: A Novel Population-Based Approach to Biological Logic Gates
(6 pages)
In:
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00046
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Characterisation of novel biomass degradation enzymes from the genome of Cellulomonas fimi
(9 pages)
In:
Enzyme and Microbial Technology, vol. 113, pp. 9-17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enzmictec.2018.02.004
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Rapid pathway prototyping and engineering using in vitro and in vivo synthetic genome SCRaMbLE-in methods
(12 pages)
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04254-0
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The enzymatic ulvan depolymerisation system from the alga-associated marine flavobacterium Formosa agariphila
(10 pages)
In:
Algal Research, vol. 27, pp. 335-344
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2017.09.025
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Use of mariner transposases for one-step delivery and integration of DNA in prokaryotes and eukaryotes by transfection
(10 pages)
In:
Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 45
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx113
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Data for discriminating dead/live bacteria in homogenous cell suspensions and the effect of insoluble substrates on turbidimetric measurements
(6 pages)
In:
Data in brief, vol. 12, pp. 169-174
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.04.003
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Two-colour fluorescence fluorimetric analysis for direct quantification of bacteria and its application in monitoring bacteria growth in cellulose degradation systems
(8 pages)
In:
Journal of microbiological methods, vol. 135, pp. 85-92
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2017.02.006
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Deep functional analysis of synII, a 770-kilobase synthetic yeast chromosome
In:
Science, vol. 355
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf4791
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Characterization of a Cellulomonas fimi exoglucanase/xylanase-endoglucanase gene fusion which improves microbial degradation of cellulosic biomass
(9 pages)
In:
Enzyme and Microbial Technology, vol. 93-94, pp. 113–121
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enzmictec.2016.08.005
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)