UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) have invested £20.6 million into innovative projects across the UK, including as project to engineer microbes to recover metals from the environment.

If successful the idea could form an important part of the move to a circular, more sustainable economy. Advances in biology offer the potential to engineer a microbe with the ability to upcycle critical metal ions from waste streams into high value nanoparticles.

The project was one of 12 awards under the UKRI’s Transition awards, totalling £14.78 million in investment. The awards will enable the continued growth of research communities and capacity across the UK towards establishing the proposed National Engineering Biology programme.

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