Professor J. Colin Murrell
• Microbiology of atmospheric trace gases
• C1 metabolism
• Microbial molecular ecology
• Methane oxidising bacteria
• Methylotrophy
• Isoprene metabolism
FEMS Expert: Professor J. Colin Murrell
Colin Murrell is Professor in Microbiology in the School of Environmental Sciences and Director of the Earth and Life Systems Alliance at the University of East Anglia. He has wide ranging research interests centred round the bacterial metabolism of methane and other one carbon compounds. He has pioneered work on the physiology, biochemistry, molecular genetics and ecology of methanotrophs, encompassing regulation of gene expression by metals, microbial genomics, metagenomics, bioremediation, biocatalysis and industrial biotechnology. His research over the past 35 years has resulted in ~300 publications and six edited books. Murrell is member of the Editorial Boards of Environmental Microbiology and The ISME Journal, and has Chaired Gordon Research Conferences on C1 Metabolism and Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Murrell is President of The International Society for Microbial Ecology (2016-2018), Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and Member of the European Academy of Microbiology. He has recently been awarded an ERC Advanced grant of €2.5 million to work on the bacterial metabolism of isoprene, a much neglected atmospheric trace gas.