The Wallace Lab

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#biotechnology #plasticupcycling #circulareconomy #sustainability #engineeringbiology #greenchemistry
@edinburghbiology.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social @edinburghchem.bsky.social @edinnovations.bsky.social @ukri.org

Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol Genetically modified E coli used to create painkillers from material produced from plastic bottles

Media🚨: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Microbes transform plastic waste into paracetamol | News | The University of Edinburgh Paracetamol production could be revolutionised by the discovery that a common bacterium can turn everyday plastic waste into the painkiller, a study reveals.

Edinburgh press release📣: www.ed.ac.uk/news/microbe...

New-to-nature biocompatible chemistry for plastic waste upcycling - Nature Chemistry Synthetic and biological chemistry are traditionally seen as separate fields. Now, a biocompatible chemical reaction enables an engineered microbe to convert plastic waste into valuable compounds unde...

News&Views🔍: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Links below to the News & Views (thanks Matthew Chang and colleagues!), and The Guardian article. (4/n)

This represents something powerful: a hybrid metabolic pathway that neither biology nor chemistry could achieve alone.

Beyond advancing circular and sustainable chemical manufacturing, we hope this sparks new directions at the interface of chemical and biological synthesis. (3/n)

We discovered that phosphate inside living cells catalyses a biocompatible Lossen rearrangement - a classic chemical reaction never before seen in nature. Add a few enzymes using engineering biology, and the result: paracetamol 💊 from plastic waste🗑️ (2/n).

A biocompatible Lossen rearrangement in Escherichia coli - Nature Chemistry Biocompatible chemistry merges chemo-catalytic reactions with cellular metabolism for sustainable small-molecule synthesis. Now a biocompatible Lossen rearrangement has been demonstrated to control ba...

Ever wondered where your paracetamol comes from? Spoiler: crude oil. In this study – led by Nick Johnson from our lab in collaboration with @astra-zeneca.bsky.social – we show how biology and chemistry can work together to create a more sustainable alternative. (1/n)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚀 Our new lab website is live! Visit wallacelab.bio to learn more about our team, our mission, and our latest work. Most importantly, get in touch to explore opportunities to connect and collaborate.

The future of chemistry is microbial.

Great news – this paper has now been published in ACS Catalysis! Huge congratulations again to Wylan (@chaoticmetazoan.bsky.social), and thanks to our collaborators in the Wallace Lab (@swallacelab.bsky.social)
Check it out here: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

From the same team that made vanilla for ice cream using E.coli that digest plastic waste.

Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol Genetically modified E coli used to create painkillers from material produced from plastic bottles

Prof. Stephen Wallace: “What this technology shows is that by merging chemistry and biology in this way for the first time, we can make paracetamol more sustainably and clean up plastic waste from the environment at the same time.” www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

This is wild!
Engineering E. coli bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol (Tylenol)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Scientists at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social have succeeded in turning plastic bottles into paracetamol, a study in Nature Chemistry shows. ➡️ edinburgh-innovations.ed.ac.uk/news/microbe...

Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol Genetically modified E coli used to create painkillers from material produced from plastic bottles

Always exciting when research from the lab is disseminated for the public! @theguardian.com have reported on @swallacelab.bsky.social paper turning plastic into paracetamol using engineered bacteria
tinyurl.com/32hxnwsd (original publication rdcu.be/esYfF)