meet the team
Principal Investigator
Dr Leonardo Rios
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Synthetic Biology and Biochemical Engineering
Leonardo was awarded a lectureship in 2017 at the Engineering School of the University of Edinburgh where he leads his research group at the...
Current Postdocs
Anton Puzorjov
Postdoc
Anton focused on the design and optimisation of Y. lipolytica strains to produce biofuels in project in collaboration with Imperial College London...
Jack Thornton
Postdoc
Jack focuses on the optimisation of culture media and clone selection for cultured meat using IPSc cells in collaboration with industrial...
Laura E. Walls
Postdoc
Laura focuses on the optimisation and scale up of cultured meat using IPSc cells in collaboration with industrial partner Roslin Technologies...
Current PhDs
Behnaz Nowrouzi
PhD Student: Metabolic Engineering
Behnaz has a keen interest on microbial-based natural product synthesis. She would like to introduce new insights into P450 enzymes research using...
Nestor Jonguitud
PhD Student: Microbial Consortia
Nestor came all the way from Tabasco, Mexico to pursue his PhD focusing on engineering microbial cells to work synergistically to produce natural...
Jorge H. Santoyo-Garcia
PhD Student: Integrated Bioprocessing
Jorge focuses on Integrated Bioprocess design, developing novel high throughput production and recovery methods of high value natural products...
Koray Malci
PhD Student: Metabolic Engineering, Automation and Diagnostics
Koray is focusing on microbial cell factory design using novel genome engineering tools and automation platforms to produce high-value...
Current MscRs
Current BEngs, MScs and Undergrad students
Current Visiting Students
Current Interns
Tom Cresswell
Undergraduate Student
Tom is a Cellular and Molecular Biology undergraduate student at Newcastle University in his third year, interested in Genetics and...
Charlie Ford
Undergraduate student
Charlie is a cellular and molecular biology undergraduate with interests in health, sustainable practices and biotechnology.
Belen Maldonado
Intern
Belen is a biologist focused on molecular biology and bioinformatics with a great interest in synthetic biology.
Swayambhik Mukherjee
Student , Post-Graduate Department of Biotechnology , St. Xavier's College (Autonomous) , Kolkata
Swayambhik has Research interest in Bioprocess Engineering, Molecular Biology, Tumor Biology and Neuroscience.
Yuri Ledezma
Biology undergraduate student
Yuri is a Biology undergraduate and focuses on molecular biology with great interest in biotechnology and synthetic biology
Alumni
Urte Puodziunaite
MscR Student: Bioengineering
Urte is interested in the application of metabolic engineering for ephedrine production in microbial cells.
Zhuoyue Wang
MscR Student: Bioengineering
Zhuoyue focuses on digital microfluidics in synbio applications.
Owen von Morgen
Intern: Bioprocess Engineering
Erikan Baluku
Biomedical laboratory technologist Undergraduate
Erikan is a biomedical laboratory technologist undergraduate and has research interests in microbiology, synthetic biology involving using phages...
Paul Marquez
Engineering in Biotechnology Undergraduate
Paul is an undergraduate Biotechnology Engineer. His interests include bioinformatics, omics sciences, inmunology and synthetic biology.
Heloísa Oss Boll
Biotechnology Undergraduate
Heloísa is a Biotechnology Undergraduate with interest in synthetic biology, project management, open science and philosophy.
Prakriti Karki
Undergraduate Student
Prakriti Karki is a member of Media Lab Nepal. Her interests are immunology, microbiology, synthetic biology ,bioinformatics, open science and...
Rohan Kotha
Chemical Engineering Undergraduate
Rohan is a Chemical Engineering Undergraduate and his research interests include polymerization, waste utilization and synthetic biology.
Calum Webb
Undergraduate Student, MEng Chemical Engineering
Calum is an undergraduate chemical engineering student with interests in lab automation and 3D printing
Harry Bower
MEng Student: Chemical Engineering
Harry is an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh and is interested in the exciting future of synthetic biology.
Siddhant Sharma
Undergraduate Research Associate, Earth-Life Science Institute, Japan
Siddhant is an undergraduate research associate with Earth-Life Science Institute, Japan working in prebiotic chemistry and origins of life.
Emma Watts
BSc Hons Biotechnology
Emma is interested in the intersection of synthetic biology and sustainability.
Ben Gold
BEng Student: Civil Engineering
Ben is a civil engineering undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh
Navaneel Sarangi
Post-Graduate Student (Biotechnology), St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata
Navaneel is a Post-Graduate Student of Biotechnology. His interests encompass Synthetic Biology and Astrobiology.
Maily González
Undergraduate Biology Student, from Yachay Tech University, Ecuador.
Maily is a research intern, focuses on Agave and their biotechnological potential.
Kartikey Kansal
Undergraduate Student, Biotechnology, IIT Roorkee, India
Kartikey is a sophomore undergrad from IIT Roorkee, India and is interested in Synthetic Biology and Machine Learning
Sudarshan GC
Master AIRE-LiSc (AIV), CRI Paris
Sudarshan focuses on the interdisciplinarity, synthetic biology and community engagement.
Laura E. Walls
PhD Student: Bioprocess Engineering
Laura focuses on the development of an industrially relevant, scalable bioprocess for the production of high value isoprenoids. Laura is using...
testimonials
What People Say About Us
Glad to be a member of Dr. Leo’s lab. I have learned a lot in such a harmonious
atmosphere. Hope to keep updated on the well-designed website!
I’m really glad to have joined Leo’s lab during my master year to conduct research on advanced machine scheduling for COVID-19 diagnosis optimization. I’m extremely impressed with the best scientific research atmosphere, the strongest scientific prowess, and the most harmonious relationships in this lab. These really helped me to make progress in my academic years and will benefit me in the future.
I did a period of research abroad at Leo Ríos’ lab. The whole group made me feel like I was at home during the time I was there and they really valued me as a member of the team. They shared their knowledge in the best way posible and I had responsibilities from day one. Leo is not only a great scientist, he is an amazing leader.
