The University of Sheffield
Chemical and Biological Engineering

Dr. Stephen Wilkinson

Dr. Stephen Wilkinson

PhD MA MEng DIC

Careers Liaison

s.j.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 7521
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 7501

Chemical and Biological Engineering
The University of Sheffield
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD

Research Interests

  • Modelling and optimisation of bioprocess flowsheets
  • Integration of wastewater treatment and algal growth for biodiesel and biomethane
  • Cell models of signalling, gene expression and protein translation for biopharmaceuticals
  • Development of Sentero for simulation and analysis of biochemical networks
  • Solution of large optimisation problems for parameter estimation and control

Teaching

  • CPE421 – MEng Chemical Engineering Design Project
  • CPE3003 – Advanced Chemical Engineering Transport Processes
  • CPE6006 – Principles of Biochemical Engineering
  • CPE425 – Oil and Gas Utilisation

Biography

I began studying Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge and ended up graduating in Chemical Engineering in 1992. I then went to the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial College, London where I was awarded a PhD in 1996 on 'Aggregate Formulations for Large-Scale Process Scheduling Problems'. This research was part-funded by Unilever Research and provided new techniques for solving large-scale supply chain problems which have since been incorporated into commercial software systems.

I then had 3 year spell in the United States working as a Research Engineer for E. I. DuPont de Nemours in Wilmington, Delaware. During this time I applied techniques of mathematical optimization to improve productivity of flexible process plants operating in global supply chains. I continued this theme of work back in the UK working for with Prescient Systems and then Decision Engines Limited providing consultancy and software tools for complex business optimisation problems in the process industries.

Towards the end of this time academia beckoned and I became fascinated by the emerging field of systems biology. I went to Manchester University in 2005 as a Pfizer funded Research Fellow working on `Dynamic Modelling of the p38 MAP Kinase Signalling Pathway´ with Professor Douglas Kell. This was followed by a BBSRC funded project on `The Systems Biology of Regulation´ with Professor Hans Westerhoff.

In September 2008 I was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Recently I have been applying modelling and optimisation to a variety of applications from the level of the cell to the level of the process flowsheet.

pigI am also a founding member of the Pharmaceutical Engineering Interest Group.

Recent Publications

Liu, J., Mukherjee, J., Hawkes, J. J. and Wilkinson, S. J. (2013). Optimization of lipid production for algal biodiesel in nitrogen stressed cells of Dunaliella salina using FTIR analysis. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. doi: 10.1002/jctb.4027.

Almiñana, C., Heath, P. R., Wilkinson, S.J., Sanchez-Osorio, J., Cuello, C., Parrilla, I., . . . Fazeli, A. (2012). Early developing pig embryos mediate their own environment in the maternal tract. PLoS One, 7(3), e33625. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033625

Kilner, J., Corfe, B. M., & Wilkinson, S. J. (2011). Modelling the microtubule: towards a better understanding of short-chain fatty acid molecular pharmacology. Mol Biosyst, 7(4), 975-983.

Mcleod, J., O'Callaghan, P. M., Pybus, L. P., Wilkinson, S. J., James, D. C., Root, T., . . . Racher, A. J. (2011). An empirical modeling platform to evaluate the relative control discrete CHO cell synthetic processes exert over recombinant monoclonal antibody production process titer. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 108(9), 2193-2204.

O'Callaghan, P. M., McLeod, J., Pybus, L. P., Lovelady, C. S., Wilkinson, S. J., Racher, A. J., . . . James, D. C. (2010). Cell line-specific control of recombinant monoclonal antibody production by CHO cells. Biotechnol Bioeng, 106(6), 938-951.

Brown, M., He, F., & Wilkinson, S. J. (2010). Properties of the proximate parameter tuning regularization algorithm. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 72(3), 697-718.

Dimelow, R. J., & Wilkinson, S. J. (2009). Control of translation initiation: a model-based analysis from limited experimental data. J R Soc Interface, 6(30), 51-61.

Westerhoff, H. V., Kolodkin, A., Conradie, R., Wilkinson, S. J., Bruggeman, F. J., Krab, K., . . . Snoep, J. L. (2009). Systems biology towards life in silico: mathematics of the control of living cells. J Math Biol, 58(1-2), 7-34.

Wilkinson, S. J., Benson, N., & Kell, D. B. (2008). Proximate parameter tuning for biochemical networks with uncertain kinetic parameters. Mol Biosyst, 4(1), 74-97.

Westerhoff, H. V., Kolodkin, A., Conradie, R., Wilkinson, S. J., Bruggeman, F. J., Krab, K., . . . Snoep, J. L. (2008). Systems biology towards life in silico: mathematics of the control of living cells. Journal of Mathematical Biology, 1-28.

Bevilacqua, A., Wilkinson, S. J., Dimelow, R., Murabito, E., Rehman, S., Nardelli, M., . . . Westerhoff, H. V. (2008). Vertical systems biology: from DNA to flux and back.. SEB Exp Biol Ser, 61, 65-91.

Ihekwaba, A. E., Wilkinson, S. J., Waithe, D., Broomhead, D. S., Li, P., Grimley, R. L., . . . Benson, N. (2007). Bridging the gap between in silico and cell-based analysis of the nuclear factor-kappaB signaling pathway by in vitro studies of IKK2. FEBS J, 274(7), 1678-1690.

Wilkinson, S. J., Spasic, I., & Ellis, D. I. (2006). Genomes to systems 3. METABOLOMICS, 2(3), 165-170.

Links

Research

ChELSI

PEIG