Emma Watts

Research Interests

My pronouns are she/her.


I am currently a plant biotechnology PhD student conducting my research on pathogen effectors for molecular farming. Through this project, I aim to work towards a novel production method for pharmaceutical and research proteins with lower environmental impact and higher potential yield than currently employed methods. More broadly, I have a keen interest in the intersection of synthetic biology and the circular economy. My undergraduate and master's theses have been within this theme, focusing on upcycling of metal nanoparticles from lithium-ion battery waste and a new display method for plastic-degrading enzyme on bacterial spore surfaces. During a summer internship, I was also able to contribute to a paper on standardised synthetic biology parts toolkits in emerging yeast species. I am interested in an interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental problems and have experience in using Bioinformatic tools and Python programming alongside wet lab techniques.

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