Department of Biological and Geographical Sciences

The Department has facilities for flow cytometry, fluorometry, luminometry, real-time PCR and histology, cell culture, forensic biology, molecular genetics analysis, archaeogenetics and ancient DNA research. Moreover, advanced instrumentation shared with colleagues in Chemistry and Physics includes NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, protein crystallography and high performance computing developed in conjunction with the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Our research now includes the study of infectious diseases, molecular carcinogenesis and drug design, the structural biology and biochemistry of food macromolecules, the molecular basis of circadian rhythms, forensic entomology, the origins of animals and transposable elements, the dispersals of modern humans, and the development of new methods for analysing forensic and archaeological DNA.