Nigel Scrutton


Nigel Shaun Scrutton is a British biochemist and biotechnology innovator known for his work on enzyme catalysis, biophysics and synthetic biology. He is Director of the UK Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub, Director of the Fine and Speciality Chemicals Synthetic Biology Research Centre, and Co-founder and Director of the 'fuels-from-biology' company C3 Biotechnologies Ltd. He is Professor of Enzymology and Biophysical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. He is former Director of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology .

Early life and education

Scrutton was born in Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire and was brought up in Cleckheaton where he went to Whitcliffe Mount School. Scrutton graduated from King's College London with a first class Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in 1985. He was a Benefactors' Scholar at St John's College, Cambridge where he completed his doctoral research in 1988 supervised by Richard Perham. He was a Research Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and a Fellow / Director of Studies at Churchill College, Cambridge. He was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in 2003 by the University of Cambridge.

Career and research

Following his PhD, Scrutton was appointed as Lecturer, then Reader and Professor at the University of Leicester before being appointed Professor at the University of Manchester in 2005. He has held successive research fellowships over 29 years from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, St John's College, Cambridge, the Royal Society, the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. He has been Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University and Cardiff University, and Adjunct Professor at VISTEC and Beijing University of Chemical Technology.
He has made major contributions to the study of enzyme catalysis, the mechanisms and structures of enzymes and the photochemistry of photoreceptor proteins. His group has pioneered investigations that have led to both deep understanding and recognition of the general importance of quantum tunnelling and protein dynamics in enzyme H-transfer and conformational ensemble sampling in electron transfer reactions. This has involved the development of new biophysical approaches for reaction kinetics analysis including kinetic isotope effect studies, their integration into structural and computational programmes, and extension of theory. He has also made important contributions to enzyme kinetics, coenzyme chemistry, protein engineering, directed evolution, synthetic biology, biological engineering, biocatalysis and metabolic engineering, including the first rational redesign of the coenzyme specificity of an enzyme, the establishment of automated microorganism bioengineering platforms for the production of chemicals and the discovery of new riboflavin cofactors.
His research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research Global, the European Union and other industry / charity funders. He has supervised about 60 students for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, about 50 postdoctoral research workers. He has published over 450 research papers and several patents.
In 2015 Scrutton co-founded the company C3 Biotechnologies Ltd to commercialise technologies for fuels and chemicals production using synthetic biology. He is Director of the Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre SYNBIOCHEM, which he established in 2014 following major investment by the UK government in synthetic biology. In 2019, he established and became Director of the UK Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub, which is developing new technologies to accelerate bio-based manufacturing in the UK in three key sectors – pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering materials. He has served on several national committees, including research council / funding committees and strategic advisory boards / scientific steering groups.
Under his leadership as Director, the enterprising vision of MIB was recognised by the award of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education as 'a leader in the UK’s strategic development of biotechnology and bio-manufacturing, through innovative technologies in partnerships with industry'.

Awards and honours

Scrutton was awarded the Colworth Medal in 1999 from the Biochemical Society; the Enzyme Chemistry Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2002; the Rita and John Cornforth Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2009; the Interdisciplinary Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2019.
Scrutton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2020; Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1996; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2009; a Member of the Lister Institute in 2004.
He is recipient of a number of academic awards including: Sambrooke Exhibition Prize ; William Robson Prize ; Benefactors' Scholarship ; Henry Humphreys Research Prize / Research Fellowship.