Imperial researcher awarded prestigious Scottish Fellowship

Professor Richard Kitney

An Imperial pioneer in bioengineering has been made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).

Professor Kitney said: “Medical information systems and synthetic biology are both relatively new fields. It has been gratifying to be around to mould their development. It is always humbling when you are recognised for the work that you do. However, science and engineering is a collaborative life-long process and this honour also recognises the efforts of my peers, colleagues and students that I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years.”

Professor Kitney was the founding head of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial and he currently co-leads the Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at the College. Synthetic biology research involves re-engineering harmless host cells, such as bacteria, so that they can perform new tasks.Professor Kitney and his colleagues have, amongst other things, been developing the processes and systems to commercialise this science on an industrial scale.

In 2008 and 2009, Professor Kitney chaired the Royal Academy of Engineering’s inquiry into synthetic biology, which laid the foundations in the UK for this field of science.

Most recently, Professor Kitney sat on a ministerial leadership council that has helped to steer the redevelopment of a UK roadmap for synthetic biology. The aim of this is to accelerate commercial opportunities for businesses in the UK. He is also a member of Synbicite, which is an innovation and knowledge centre that is dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of synthetic biology by industry.

Professor Kitney has also been committed to training the next generation of synthetic biologists. For the past, ten years he has co-led successive Imperial student groups to victory at the iGEM competition - an annual international student competition in synthetic biology.