An interview with Paul Race
Dr Paul Race is a Reader in Biological Chemistry at the University of Bristol. In this interview, he tells us more about his research into synthetic biology and its benefits in developing clinically useful molecules, including new antibiotics and anticancer drugs.
Tell us about your current research
The research that takes place in my lab is focused on answering two questions, firstly; how does biology do chemistry? Secondly; how can we use this knowledge for purposeful application? Our favourite way to answer these questions is by studying the often elaborate biosynthetic pathways found in bacteria and fungi, which assemble a family of complex molecules called natural products. Many natural products are of tremendous value as pharma leads, so through our research, we hope to not only answer fundamental biochemical questions, but also work to towards developing clinically useful molecules, including new antibiotics and anticancer drugs.
You have explored research in the world of synthetic biology. Can you tell us more about this and why it is important to microbiology?
Synthetic biology is an approach to research that encourages you to take a more engineering centric view of biology. This can be a very useful mindset to adopt when, for example; devising ways to modify, or manipulate the biosynthetic pathways we study. As a consequence, this approach can enable us to access functionally optimised versions of natural products, a class of compounds termed ‘non-natural’ natural products, which possess improved clinical potential, compared to the authentic parent compound.
In addition to this you have studied novel products that can be produced from microbes. Tell us more about these and how this has impacted on future research.
When I set the lab up over 10 years ago, we were very focused on molecular enzymology. Ambitions were focused on natural product pathway delineation and engineering. More recently, however, and thanks to some excellent collaborations in Bristol and beyond; we have been able to establish an early stage marine natural product discovery programme focused on isolating new natural product-based antibiotic leads, from bacteria that live within deep sea sponges. This work is now starting to bear fruit and has seen us working increasingly closely with industry, to take these lead compounds into pre-clinical evaluation.
What qualifications did you obtain before starting this role?
My first degree was in Microbiology from the University of Leeds, then I moved to a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Birmingham. After that I spent over five years as a postdoc at Newcastle University, learning about structural biology, before moving to Bristol in 2009 to set up my own lab.
What are the professional challenges that present themselves and how do you try to overcome them?
Modern academia is a relentless profession. Balancing teaching, admin and research routinely gets overwhelming. For junior staff I think this is a real issue, and I do have concerns that it is impacting on the attractiveness of academia as a profession for talented young scientists. For me, the key was the realisation that my inbox is never going to be empty and I’m never going to meet every deadline, so it is best to focus on the most pressing things and then allow the others to sort themselves out.
What is a typical working day for you?
Although every day is different, each starts with me taking my son to school and then commuting into work. The bus journey gives me 30 mins to begin the daily, albeit never-ending, process of clearing emails. If it’s an intense period of teaching, my time will mostly be focused on that, which represents a series of 2–3 week chunks throughout the year. Otherwise, my days are usually made up of a mixture of discussing experimental results with members of the lab, writing grants and papers and research admin. I also have a spin-out company and I commit at least one day every couple of weeks to helping out there. I really like the different challenges which that presents, and it provides a break from academia, though it’s not without its own challenges.
Tell us about your biggest professional achievement(s) so far
For me the most important thing that an academic can do over the course of their career is support the staff and students in their lab and enable them to achieve their own personal ambitions, irrespective of whether they aspire to be an academic or not. It reassures me that almost without exception, everyone that has been through the lab has gone on to pursue a research career in academia or industry, so clearly their experience in Bristol hasn’t put them off too much.
You are an active member of the Microbiology Society, tell us more about your involvement
I like to attend conferences organised by the Society where possible, in recent years I have become increasingly active in microbiology outreach activities allied to the Society. The latter is something that I really never saw myself doing, but as I’ve started to get a bit longer in the tooth, I’ve really started to appreciate the value in doing this and am now very much a convert.
Why is it important to be a member of an organisation like the Microbiology Society?
Professional societies not only provide a point of focus for like-minded folk, but also a vehicle for highlighting the importance of their particular discipline to funders and policy makers. There is undoubted strength in numbers.
Where did your interest in microbiology come from?
From my undergraduate degree. I should say that it wasn’t really until I was in the final throws of my degree that something really clicked and the inspiration to continue down an academic track hit me. It’s fair to say that for most of my undergraduate degree I was far from a model student!
Why does microbiology matter?
Micro-organisms are the simplest forms of life on the planet, yet we understand so little about them. If we can ever hope to understand the nuances of biology, then there is no better place start than with microbial life. I’m not really sure why anyone want to study anything else!
