Background

Biography

Dr Howard received his Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield, where, as a BBSRC Case Award student with Advanced Technologies (Cambridge) Ltd., he explored metabolic engineering of primary metabolism for crop yield improvement. He has published research on a number of different aspects of the genetic and biochemical regulation of carbon flux in plants and microbes. 

Dr Howard is a keen advocate of research-led teaching, implementing these approaches for both undergraduates and pre-University students. He has successfully supervised Nuffield student scholars and is happy to receive enquiries from students about such placements. In 2012 Dr Howard led the inaugural University of Exeter entry into the iGEM competition and has been involved in iGEM ever since. He hosts the Newcastle iGEM teams.

Lab Homepage

Qualifications: 

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Ph.D. Plant Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (University of Sheffield)

B.Sc. (Hons) in Botany and Zoology (University of Reading)

Internal Responsibilities:

Deputy Chair: Plant and Microbial Biology

Committee and Organisational Experience:

BBSRC STARS Programme: Using virtual experimentation for better experimental design in biological and biotechnological research, Lead-Organiser 2016-2019

Learning and Teaching Working Group: Links with Industry, 2017

UK Plant Sciences Federation Translation Working Group Implementation Plan, 2014 

Society for Experimental Biology AGM, ‘Synthetic Biology’ Session Co-Organiser, 30 June - 3 July 2015, Clarion Congress Hotel, Prague.

Society for Experimental Biology, ‘Synthetic Biology’ Co-Organiser, 8 - 10 January 2014, Charles Darwin House, London.

Awards:

Dr Howard was part of the team that was awarded a University of Exeter Impact Award for Outstanding Impact in Technology, and was shortlisted for the BBSRC Innovator of the Year: Most Promising Innovation award in 2014 for work developing petroleum-replica hydrocarbons.

Peer-review: 

Including Biochemical Journal, Journal of Biotechnology, Journal of Experimental Botany, FEBS Letters, FEBS Journal, Frontiers in Plant Science, Journal of Phycology, Plant Cell Reports and the BBSRC.

External coverage:

From New Scientist: Culture Shock. Students from Newcastle enter iGEM2016

From the BBC: E. coli bacteria 'can produce diesel biofuel'

From New Scientist: Bacteria churn out first ever petrol-like biofuel.

Research

Current Research Group:

Dr Alice Banks and Dr Colette Whitfield

Self-disclosing protective materials using synthetic gene networks (EPSRC)

With Dr David Fulton (Newcastle University), Dr Jonathan Fieldsend (University of Exeter) and Professor John Love (University of Exeter).

Josh Loh (PhD Candidate)

Identification of hydrocarbon biosynthetic pathways in Ascocoryne sarcoides (BBSRC)

Christopher Azubuike (PhD Candidate)

Synthetic biology tools for Cupriavidus necator H16 - an industrial microbe for bioremediation and electrosynthesis (Commonwealth Scholarship Commission to the UK)

Alex Laverick (PhD Candidate)

Alis Prusokas (PhD Candidate)

Metagenomic enabled discovery of the plant virome (BBSRC iCASE with fera)

Further information:

Google Scholar Profile

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5546-4043

Gateway to Research (RCUK funded projects only).

Teaching

Modules:

• Bioprospecting (BIO3045)
• Biology in Action (BIO1010)
• Biotechnology 1 (BIO2030)
• Biotechnology 2 (BIO3042)
• Research Project (BIO3199)
• Gene Technology (BIO8044)
• Research Component of our MSc in Industrial and Commercial Biotechnology.

I also lead the BBSRC STARS training programme Statistical Design of Experiments for Biology and Biotechnology and co-host the Newcastle iGEM team.

Publications

• Azubuike CC, Edwards MG, Gatehouse AMR, Howard TP. Applying Statistical Design of Experiments (DOE) To Understanding the Effect of Growth Media Components on Cupriavidus necator H16 Growth. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2020, 86(17).
• Whitfield CJ, Banks AM, Dura G, Love J, Fieldsend JE, Goodchild SA, Fulton DA, Howard TP. Cell-free protein synthesis in hydrogel materials. Chemical Communications 2020, 56(52), 7108-7111.
• Fellermann H, Shirt-Ediss B, Kozyra J, Linsley M, Lendrem D, Isaacs J, Howard TP. Design of experiments and the virtual PCR simulator: An online game for pharmaceutical scientists and biotechnologists. Pharmaceutical Statistics 2019, 18(4), 402-406.
• Gilman J, Singleton C, Tennant RK, James PBC, Howard TP, Lux T, Parker DA, Love J. Rapid, Heuristic Discovery and Design of Promoter Collections in Non-Model Microbes for Industrial Applications. ACS Synthetic Biology 2019, 8(5), 1175-1186.
• Brown S, Loh J, Aves SJ, Howard TP. Alkane Biosynthesis in Bacteria. In: Stams, AJM; Sousa, D, ed. Biogenesis of Hydrocarbons. Cham: Springer, 2018, pp.1-20.
• Brown SR, Staff M, Lee R, Love J, Parker DA, Aves SJ, Howard TP. Design of Experiments Methodology to Build a Multifactorial Statistical Model Describing the Metabolic Interactions of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Isozymes in the Ethanol Biosynthetic Pathway of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ACS Synthetic Biology 2018, 7(7), 1676-1684.
• Sambles CM, Salmon DL, Florance H, Howard TP, Smirnoff N, Nielsen LR, McKinney LV, Kjær ED, Buggs RJA, Studholme DJ, Grant M. Ash leaf metabolomes reveal differences between trees tolerant and susceptible to ash dieback disease. Scientific Data 2017, 4, 170190.
• Howard TP. Engineering Microbial Metabolism for Biofuel Production. In: Love, J; Bryant, JA, ed. Biofuels and Bioenergy. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017, pp.241-260.
• Singleton C, Howard TP, Smirnoff N. Synthetic metabolons for metabolic engineering. Journal of Experimental Botany 2014, 65(8), 1-8.
• LopezCalcagno PE, Howard TP, Raines CA. The CP12 protein family: a thioredoxin-mediated metabolic switch?. Frontiers in Plant Science 2014, 5, 9.
• Howard TP, Fahy B, Leigh F, Howell P, Powell W, Greenland A, Trafford K, Smith AM. Use of advanced recombinant lines to study the impact and potential of mutations affecting starch synthesis in barley. Journal of Cereal Sciences 2014, 59(2), 196-202.
• Howard TP, Middelhaufe S, Moore K, Edner C, Kolak DM. Synthesis of customized petroleum-replica fuel molecules by targeted modification of fatty free acid pools in Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2013, 110(19), 7636-7641.
• Howard TP, Fahy B, Craggs A, Mumford R, Leigh F. Barley mutants with low rates of endosperm starch synthesis have low grain dormancy and high susceptibility to preharvest sprouting. The New Phytologist 2012, 194(1), 158-67.
• Howard TP, Fryer MJ, Singh P, Metodiev M, Lytovchenko A. Antisense suppression of the small chloroplast protein CP12 in tobacco alters carbon partitioning and severely restricts growth. Plant Physiology 2011, 157(2), 620-31.
• Howard TP, Upton GJ, Lloyd JC, Raines CA. Antisense suppression of the small chloroplast protein CP12 in tobacco: a transcriptional viewpoint. Plant Signaling and Behaviour 2011, 6(12), 2026-30.
• Howard T, Rejab NA, Griffiths S, Leigh F, Leverington-Waite M. Identification of a major QTL controlling the content of B-type starch granules in Aegilops. Journal of Experimental Botany 2011, 62(2), 2217-28.
• Howard TP, Lloyd JC, Raines CA. Inter-species variation in the oligomeric states of the higher plant Calvin cycle enzymes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoribulokinase. Journal of Experimental Botany 2011, 62(11), 3799-805.
• Howard TP, Metodiev M, Lloyd JC, Raines CA. Thioredoxin-mediated reversible dissociation of a stromal multiprotein complex in response to changes in light availability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2008, 105(10), 4056-4061.
• Overy SA, Walker HJ, Malone S, Howard TP, Baxter CJ. Application of metabolite profiling to the identification of traits in a population of tomato introgression lines. Journal of Experimental Botany 2005, 54(410), 287-96.