BBSRC - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Swindon, United Kingdom

BBSRC is one of 7 Research Councils that work together as Research Councils UK (RCUK), and is funded by the Government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). BBSRC's budget for 2013-14 was around £484M, which supported around 1600 scientists and 2000 research students in universities and institutes across the UK. Funded programmes such as 'Sustainable bioenergy and biofuels' (SuBB) in 2012, covering synthetic biology, novel enzymes and mircoorganisms for conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks, and algae biofuels. Also funded research in 2014 on digestibility of cell walls of "energy straw", identifying  natural variants of straw plants that are easier to breakdown, but are not significantly weaker or smaller.