The Sadler Lab

Chancellor's Fellow in Biotechnology

Institute of Quantitative Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences

The University of Edinburgh, UK

Ph.D. in Biocatalysis and Bioorganic Chemistry, GSK/University of Strathclyde Industrial PhD programme, 2013-2017
M.Sc. in Chemistry with a Year in Industry, 2009-2013

Jo’s research interests center around sustainability in the chemical industries through biotechnology. Following her MSc and PhD, she undertook postdoctoral research at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology developing methods for the directed evolution of biocatalysts. She developed ultra-high throughput enzyme screening methodologies and bespoke variant library generation methods. In 2018, she moved to the University of St Andrews to work in the laboratory of Prof. Rebecca Goss on metabolic engineering for production of industrially important chemicals. In 2019, Jo moved to the University of Edinburgh to take up a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship focussing on the upcycling of plastic waste into high value chemicals in the laboratory of Dr Stephen Wallace. In 2021, Jo was awarded a Chancellor’s Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh and set up her independent lab which draws on her multidisciplinary training to develop novel biotechnologies to drive a more sustainable future.

Matt Edmundson

Matt is very interested in sustainability and has spent a lot of his career trying to turn waste things into useful things, including decontaminating soil from old industrial sites and converting metal into medicines. Now in the Sadler Lab, he is developing a method of converting plastic bottles into high-value aromatic compounds such as vanillin. He is also involved in public engagement with science, and has even been part of an artistic interpretation of synthetic biology which was performed at the V&A in London.

Médoune Sarr

Médoune gained his BSc in Biomedical Sciences and MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Paris Descartes in France. He then moved to Stockholm, Sweden to complete his PhD in protein biotechnology at the Karolinska Institute where he developed a biological tool – inspired from how spiders make their silk – to address protein aggregation during heterologous expression. Keen on shifting his scientific focus towards synthetic biology, he joined the University of Bradford as a postdoctoral researcher. There, he worked on a project aiming to produce alkyl methacrylates from a lignocellulosic-based feedstock. He joined the Sadler Lab in 2023 to pursue his interest in sustainable biotechnologies. Here, he is helping to develop a bio-based route for upcycling PET plastics into industrially useful small molecules.

Liz Lau

Liz undertook her MEng in Chemical Engineering and Energy Engineering at Heriot Watt University, where she also completed her PhD under Dr. Humphrey Yiu in enzyme immobilisation and nanomaterials. She joined the Wallace Lab in 2022 and has worked on a variety of different whole cell biotransformations. In October 2024 she joined the Sadler Lab as part of the UKRI Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering Biology (P3EB) Mission Hub where she will be upcycling PET to value added compounds.

Pedro Rangel de Faria

Originally from Brazil, Pedro graduated with a BSc in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Espirito Santo in 2017, where he studied the effects of a novel drug for the treatment of Leishmaniosis in the promastigote form of Leishmania chagasi. He moved to Germany in 2018 to obtain his MSc in Molecular Bioengineering from the Dresden University of Technology, where studied the growth behaviour of Escherichia coli in clean water. Pedro joined the Sadler Lab in the University of Edinburgh in 2021 to pursue his interest in studying Synthetic Biology. He is now working on his PhD project, developing a sustainable method to upcycle PET plastics into more value-added products using engineered microorganisms and novel biosynthetic pathways.

Franca Pitzalis

Franca gained her BSc in Biotechnology and MSc in Molecular Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from the University of Milan, Italy and moved to UK to join the Sadler lab in 2022 as part of the IBioIC PhD programme. Her project focuses on bacterial metabolic engineering aimed to produce valuable compounds starting from waste feedstocks. Her interest is directed towards the development of sustainable biotechnologies that could generate waste upcycling and promote the circular bioeconomy.

Benjamín Armijo Galdames

Benjamín grew up in Chile, where he graduated as a bioprocess engineer with a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Chile. During this time, his work focussed on the technical and economic development of a peptide production system in E.coli. After finishing his degree, he worked as a project engineer in the Technology Transfer Unit of the Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering of the same university. His research interests focus on the design and development of novel sustainable industrial processes. Currently, he is a first year PhD student funded by the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, focussing on the development of new technologies to upcycle plastic materials.

Arianna Schneier

Arianna received a First-Class Biological Sciences (Molecular Biology) (Bsc Hons) degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2022. During which, Arianna completed her Honours project in Prof. Stephen Wallace's Lab on screening chemically uncharacterised microbes for alkene reduction abilities. To pursue her interests in sustainability and application of microbes towards waste upcycling, Arianna worked in industry as an intern and then research assistant at Celtic Renewables Ltd., a company focused on upcycling the waste from whiskey production into biofuels, for one year. Now, Arianna is starting the first year of her PhD funded by EASTBIO in the Sadler lab on bioengineering novel platforms for one-pot plastic upcycling.

Suhasini Iyer

Suhasini completed her B.Eng in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2021. Motivated by her experience doing iGEM, she went on to obtain a M.Res degree in Systems and Synthetic Biology from Imperial College London in 2022. She then worked at the National University of Singapore where she developed light-driven logic gates in E. coli. She has recently joined the Sadler lab as a PhD student funded by the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh. Her project focusses on developing a chemo-biological process for plastic waste valorisation.

Matthew Whitehead

Matthew is interested in how engineering biology can be used to shape a sustainable future alongside having a keen interest in science policy. He gained his BSc in Biotechnology from the University of Edinburgh in 2024. During which he studied enhancing resistance to environmental stresses in novel crop species, as well as conducting projects on bio-photovoltaics and directed evolution in cyanobacteria. He then joined the Sadler lab later that year for his PhD. His project focusses on producing valuable chemicals from waste feedstocks using metabolically engineered bacteria.

Nicha Sarkka

Nicha began her studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2020. Currently a final year student in Biological Sciences (Molecular Biology), she has joined the Sadler Lab where she is undertaking her Senior Honours project. She is studying extracellular protein expression for plastic degradation. Her interests lie in how engineered microorganisms can be used as a potential biotechnological solution to approach different problems.

Siddharth Tuli

Siddharth (Sid) is originally from Delhi, India, and is currently undertaking a BSc with Honours in Biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh. In January 2024, he joined the Sadler Laboratory for his Senior Honours research project, where he is engaged in developing novel biocompatible chemistry for bio-based small molecule synthesis. His academic interests include chemistry, metabolic engineering, and leveraging synthetic biology to tackle waste management by repurposing waste materials, such as plastics, into valuable products which promote a circular economy.

Yuxi Chen

Yuxi gained her BSc in Biotechnology from Jilin University, China. In 2022, she moved to the UK to pursue her Master’s degree in Edinburgh and started working in the Sadler lab in April 2023 for her Msc Project, which focuses on novel PET degradation systems. She is interested in how biotechnology can be used to manage plastic waste to achieve a sustainable plastics future.

Madalena Cunha Rocha

Originally from Portugal, Madalena came to Edinburgh in 2019 to pursue a BSc with Honours in Biotechnology. Now in her 4th year, she joined Dr Sadler’s lab in January 2023 for her Senior Honours Project, focusing on the growth of biofilms on plastic. Her interests lie in the application of biological systems in waste management and upcycling, particularly the degradation of plastics.