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About the Department
The University of Leicester Department of Biology was formed in 1997 by the merger of the Departments of Zoology and Botany. The Department is engaged in internationally competitive research across a wide range of topics in plant and animal biology.
The Department has a complement of more than 30 academic and research staff, about 7 technical and support staff and around 30 postgraduate students.
Research in the Department
The Department of Biology is engaged in a wide range of research activities, including:
- Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Molecular Cytogenetics
- Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology
- Neurophysiology
External research funding, currently standing in excess of £4 million, is provided by BBSRC, NERC, the European Commission, DEFRA, the Environment Agency, the Royal Society, industry, UK charities and foreign governments.
Facilities in the Department
Departmental research facilities are comprehensive. For plant studies there are excellent growth facilities including many controlled environment chambers and greenhouses. For animal studies there are a range of freshwater tank rooms and numerous controlled environment insect rooms. There are state of the art facilities for behavioural and electrophysiological studies, including patch clamp and multielectrode array recording, and video-based movement analysis. The Department has photobiological facilities of the highest order and state-of-the-art facilities for transgenic plant production and culture. Within the Department there are light and fluorescence microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy facilities allowing real-time and 3D image analysis of subcellular structure and real-time protein-protein interactions in living cells. There is a departmental vehicle and a wide range of equipment for use in both terrestrial and aquatic field studies. There is also an herbarium with an important reference library and an associated Botanic Garden with experimental greenhouses, controlled environment facilities and a research laboratory.
Within the Adrian Building there is a well-equipped electron microscopy laboratory and in the adjacent Maurice Shock building is an advanced confocal light microscope facility, including a multiphoton microscope for in vivo neuroscience. Further joint facilities include a Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry laboratory offering excellent state-of-the-art biomolecular resource services. Extensive computing and IT facilities are available at departmental level and through the University network.
Other sites hosted by the Department of Biology
Contacting the Department
The Department of Biology is situated on the second and third floors of the Adrian Building on the main campus of the University of Leicester and has additional space in the lower ground floor for specialised facilities, including a photobiology suite, tank rooms and insect rooms. The Adrian Building is linked by a pedestrian bridge to the Maurice Shock Medical Sciences Building and the Henry Wellcome Building, which house other Biological Sciences and Medical departments.
Contact details
Head of Department
Dr Iain Barber
Adrian Building, Room 329
Telephone: Internal 3348 External: 0116 252 3348
Email: ib50@leicester.ac.uk
Departmental Administrative Manager
Mrs Penny Butler
Adrian Building, Room 329a
Telephone: Internal 3344 External: 0116 252 3344
E-mail: pab@le.ac.uk
