Position: Co-opted Member, Academia
Organisation: Heriot-Watt University
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Email: w.j.mitchell@hw.ac.uk

Wilf Mitchell graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a B Sc in Biochemistry (1975) followed by a Ph D in Microbial Physiology (1979).  After periods of postdoctoral research at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and then back at the University of Aberdeen, he took up the position of Lecturer in Biotechnology at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where he is now a Reader in Microbiology and Director of the Biology Programme in the School of Life Sciences.

Wilf’s research has been concerned with the mechanism and regulation of sugar uptake in bacteria, both at a biochemical and a genetic level.  His principal interest is in utilization of mono- and disaccharides by the solventogenic clostridia, C. acetobutylicum and C. beijerinckii, which produce butanol as a major metabolic end-product.  Fermentations using these bacteria have been operated successfully on an industrial scale in the past, and can now make a significant contribution to the production of biofuels.  He has served full terms as an Associate Editor and then Editor of Microbiology SGM, and is currently on the Editorial Board of FEMS Microbiology Letters.