Staff profile

Dr Scott was born in 1975 in Scotland. He obtained a BSc (hon) in Genetics from the University of Wales (UK) in 1996 and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from Sheffield University (UK) in 2000.

He moved to CSIRO Entomology in Canberra in 2004 as a post-doctoral fellow, and now leads the Biocatalysis and Synthetic Biology Team in CSIRO Land & Water and the also the 'Foundation Technologies' Application Domain in CSIRO’s Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform.

Dr Scott's team investigates, engineers and harnesses the biochemical and metabolic diversity found in nature.

Nature has produced organisms that can perform some truly amazing chemistry at a level of sophistication that human chemists simply can’t match. ​We investigate proteins and metabolic pathways that have potentially useful functions, particularly for applications such as cleaning up the environment (bioremediation) and producing useful chemicals (biocatalysis).

​​Dr. Scott is also interested in the evolution of protein and metabolic functions. These can evolve over a remarkably short span of time, especially in bacteria. The proteins and pathways that we study in the lab are excellent models for investigating the molecular mechanisms that drive and constrain evolution.

​The Bioctalysis & Synthetic Biology Team investigates:

• Protein structure-function relationships
• Protein engineering
• Protein and metabolic evolution

Our current research areas include:
​
- Enzymes and metabolic pathways that clean up pollution
- Whole-cell and cell-free biocatalysts for the production of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and plastics/polymers
- Continuous-flow biocatalysis

PhD projects and Partnering Opportunities are available in these areas - please contact Dr. Scott directly for more information: colin.scott@csiro.au