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Chemical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering achieve top-five places in Guardian rankings 2027

Outstanding results highlight the School’s strength across its subject areas
Deep borehole facilities

Dr Karl Travis joins the Independent Advisory Committee for the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center (DBDC)

The Deep Borehole Demonstration Center has added three experts to its Independent Advisory Committee. Dr Karl Travis joins Emeritus Professor Neil Chapman, who is Chair of the committee.

Mockup of Xerode’s dry electrode printing system
Mockup of Xerode’s dry electrode printing system, capable of continuous roll-to-roll manufacture.

Spinout spotlight: Xerode

Xerode, a spinout from the University of Sheffield’s School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, is developing a solvent-free, dry digital printing process for coating battery electrodes.

Two DNA double helices locking together

Decades-old DNA mystery solved after strands are captured zipping together for the first time

Researchers have captured the moment two DNA molecules zip together, overcoming their identical negative charges to pair up, solving a mechanism that has puzzled scientists for more than 20 years.
Pruning scissors
Photo source: Ernest Wright

Pruning in 3D

Members of Royce have been working with Ernest Wright to design their new Nurseryman Scissors using 3D-printed metal prototypes.

| Ernest Wright website
Grike Fell overlooking Sellafield

Government allocates £154m for plutonium disposal

Dr Lewis Blackburn is quoted in a BBC article about money that will be spent by the government to investigate how best to dispose of the 140 tonnes of radioactive plutonium it currently stores at a nuclear plant.

| BBC news
two men in hi-vis jackets shovel cement which is pouring from a tube

The green steel revolution is creating demand for new approaches to cement production, study finds

The UK’s race to reach net-zero is rapidly transforming two of its most carbon intensive industries – steel and cement. However new research warns that progress in one, could hinder the other with major implications on the nation’s climate strategy.
DNA molecules

Under or over? The twists and turns of genetic research

Using what is known as an atomic force microscope, advanced computer software and AI, researchers are able to visualise DNA molecules, trace their paths and measure them.
Firth court

Driving innovation with successful spinouts

This academic year has seen the incorporation of seven new spinout companies from the Faculty of Engineering. Five of these spinouts are from the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering.