Professor Phillip Wright
BE (Hons), ME (Hons), PhD
Head of Department
Director of Research
Biological and Environmental Systems Group
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 7577
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 7501
email : p.c.wright@sheffield.ac.uk
Personal Assistant: Amanda Fidler
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 7557
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 7566
email : a.fidler@sheffield.ac.uk
Biography
I started my Chemical Engineering career as a cadet at BHP Steel in Wollongong NSW Australia, and completed my BE in Chemical Engineering by a combination of both full and part time study, graduating from the University of NSW in 1991.
I returned to BHP Steel as a Process Engineer for the years 1991-1993. During this period I also completed a part-time Research Master of Engineering (ME) in Mechanical Engineering with A/Prof WeeKing Soh, at the University of Wollongong, on mass transfer in novel contacting systems for biological applications.
I then returned to The University of NSW to undertake a PhD on three-phase fluidized bed bioreactors with Professor Judy Raper.
Upon completing my PhD in 1997 I took up the post of Lecturer, and later Reader, in Chemical Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. In 2001 I received an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship. In 2002 I took up my Chair in Systems Biology and Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
I am a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. I took up the role of the Department's Director of Research in August 2004 and became Head of Department in June 2008.
Research interests
I am the foundation Professor of Systems Biology and Engineering within the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (CPE), at The University of Sheffield. My research philosophy is centred on a mechanistic systems biology approach to solve biochemical reaction engineered processes.
I wish to pursue issues involved in the effective utilisation of biological resources. The approach is specifically targeted at the conjunction of chemical engineering (metabolic engineering), biological sciences (esp. genomics, proteomics and related bioinformatics) and (green) chemistry.
I seek a new level of understanding upon which can be based future step-changes in process effectiveness and targeted product and process engineering within the chemical and biochemical industries. This was a key aim of my EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship programme (2001-2006).
Current research projects
In the lab we have six main areas of research:
- Exploitation of extremophiles
- Exploitation of cyanobacteria
- Multi-phase reactors – enzyme catalysis
- Computational modelling and pathway analysis in cellular systems
- Synthetic biology - especially for biofuels and biomedical applications
- Biomedical research - working in collaboration with medical colleagues
We use proteomics as a major tool in all areas of our research.
Selected publications
Publications list
Activities and distinctions
- Member of Editorial Board, Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics
- Committee Member, BBSRC Bioprocessing Research Industry Club (BRIC)
- Contributing a Chapter on Biofiltration to ‘Environmental Engineering Handbook’.
- Member of EPSRC College and Peer Review Panel
- Member of Editorial Board of Marine Biotechnology
Recent invited, plenary and keynote lectures
- Society for General Microbiology, 161st Meeting, University of Edinburgh, September 2007
- American Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting, Toronto, May 2007
- Proteomics: Bridging the Gap Between Gene Expression and Biological Function, Luxembourg, October 2006
- 5th Archaea Meeting, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, February 2006
- YANCE, University of Sheffield, June 2003
Teaching
- CPE307 - Chemical Reaction Engineering
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