We are a lively department with over 50 academic staff, delivering high quality teaching and researc
Major investments in laboratories and equipment over the last 3 years enables us to provide excellent facilities for over 850 undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, taking one of our 11 undergraduate B.Sc degrees and 10 taught M.Sc degrees. In addition we have a very strong programme for students to undertake research degrees from MSD to PhD. This is led by our research teams who are work
15/04/2026
A look back at the amazing two & a half weeks our students spent in Indonesia 🌞🌊
They spent their days building their skills in diving, measuring & recording marine environments, but also just having a lot of fun in that beautiful blue water 😍💙
03/10/2025
Can you tell how excited we are to be welcoming a new cohort of students to our School 😆
A huge welcome to all our new students! It was wonderful to meet so many of you yesterday and give you a taste of what Essex has to offer.
23/07/2025
Summer Graduation 2025 Celebrations #4
..and it wouldn't be graduation without the traditional Hat Toss!
23/07/2025
Summer Graduation 2025 Celebrations #3
Presentation of Certificates of Competence to our Biomedical Science students - well done all 🎊
23/07/2025
Summer Graduation 2025 Celebrations #2
Congratulations prize winners 🎉🎉🎉
23/07/2025
Summer Graduation 2025 Celebrations #1
30/01/2025
07/01/2025
Our very own Professor Terry McGenity will give this talk on 8th January. Booking details below.
Life's a gas if you're a microbe!
Professor Terry McGenity from School of Life Sciences at University of Essex sheds light on the big impact of tiny microbes this week at Colchester's Cafe Scientifique - kindly hosted by Common Ground Colchester.
Book online at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/microbes-that-make-and-break-gas-tickets-1111661612809?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse
13/12/2024
Can mistletoe be more than just the spark for a Christmas kiss? Could the festive favourite actually be used as high-quality surgical glue?
Discover how School of Life Sciences at University of Essex researchers are exploring the adhesive qualities of mistletoe's white berries.
https://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2024/12/09/scientists-explore-if-mistletoe-can-be-used-as-surgical-glue
We are pleased to invite you to our next Life Sciences Seminar taking place this Thursday at 1pm in STEM 3.1. We will be welcoming Dr Megan McDonald from the University of Birmingham. Dr McDonald’s talk will focus on how fungal pathogens are able to exchange genetic material via the process of horizontal gene transfer, in particular drawing on examples of how pathogenicity genes can be mobilised via giant ‘starship’ transposons.
As usual, this talk will take place in hybrid-format, meaning you can join in-person in STEM 3.1 or online via Zoom (meeting link below). Further details on the seminar and speaker can be found below.
I hope to see many of you there.
When: 1pm Thursday 14th November
Where: STEM 3.1 and online via Zoom (https://essex-university.zoom.us/j/97650231218)
Who: Dr Megan McDonald (University of Birmingham)
Summary: Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a tool that many organisms use to rapidly adapt to novel hosts or environments. One well-known example of HGT is the movement of the necrotrophic effector ToxA between three fungal wheat pathogens, Parastagonospora nodorum, Pyrenophora tritici-repentis and Bipolaris sorokiniana. Defining the extent of horizontally transferred DNA is important because it can define the mechanisms that facilitate HGT. Our previous analysis of ToxA and its surrounding 14 kb showed that this region was a class II DNA transposon we named ToxhAT due to the hAT-like transposase gene near to ToxA. Importantly, there was some evidence that this transposon may remain active and mobile in B. sorokiniana. Long-read genome sequencing of eight ToxhAT carrying B. sorokiniana isolates confirmed that ToxhAT is an active transposon. In addition to confirming ToxhAT is an active transposon, these assemblies revealed that ToxhAT was a passenger within a giant transposon (~200kb). This transposon, Sanctuary I, has been classified as a giant Starship transposon a new transposon family found in fungi. In parallel, the region carrying ToxhAT in Pyrenophora tritici-repentis has also been shown to be a mobile Starship, named “Horizon”. This indicates two independent captures of the smaller ToxhAT by these large transposons.