Specialism: Biotechnology
Institution: University of Edinburgh

Professor Louise Horsfall is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Biotechnology and Associate Director of the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions. She is a synthetic biologist, working at the interface of biology, chemistry, engineering and social science, and regularly collaborates with industry from new start-ups to large multinationals.

Her research involves the engineering of biological parts, systems and devices to recover metals from contaminated waste, water and land. She uses biology to add value to the recovered metal and to provide a route for its reuse.

Professor Horsfall is a member of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Biotechnology, co-chair of the EFB’s section on Bioengineering and Bioprocessing, the RSE’s Young Academy of Scotland’s theme lead for sustainability and an editor for the Microbiology journal.