Lee Coffey

Biography

Dr Lee Coffey is a Lecturer in Microbiology with Biopharmaceutical Science at the Department of Science, WIT and Principal Investigator at the PMBRC where he is leading the molecular biotechnology/biocatalysis research group. He received a BSc (Hons) Degree in Applied Biology with Quality Management (first class honours) and a PhD in Molecular Biotechnology from WIT in 2002 and 2007, respectively. In this time Dr Coffey gained experience in industry in both microbiological and pharmaceutical laboratories. The subject of his IRCSET-funded PhD thesis was Molecular analysis of genes involved in nitrile metabolism in Microbacterium sp. AJ115, Rhodococcus erythropolis AJ270, AJ300 AND ITCBP. Dr Coffey conducted his postdoctoral research at the PMBRC from October 2007 to March 2011, expanding the biocatalysis research while also serving as manager of the Molecular Biology research lab. In March 2011 he subsequently became Project and Laboratory Manager for the MISE project, a €1.4m Interreg 4A funded project involving 6 partner organizations in Ireland and Wales. Dr Coffey is currently lead supervisor for three and co-supervisor for three postgraduate students. He has presented at numerous national and international conferences, 12 peer-reviewed publications, filed three IDF/patent/PCT applications and recently secured a biocatalysis technology license agreement with a global pharmaceutical company. He has secured over €1 million in research funding to date from various international and national funding sources.

Research Interest

Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biocatalysis, Recombinant DNA technology, Horizontal gene transfer, Nitrile metabolism, Biotransformations, Bioremediation, Enzyme expression