Safwan AkramView profile
Professor
Professor Safwan Akram is a distinguished academic at Teesside University's School of Health and Life Sciences, based at the National Horizons Centre and Centre for Biodiscovery. As a Professor of Innovation in Healthcare/Biosciences, his research focuses on biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, low-cost diagnostics, and biomimetic applications. He holds a PhD in Analytical Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge, with postdoctoral work on low-cost diagnostics. His teaching excellence was recognized with a university-wide Star Award. Research interests include nanobody manufacturing, gene therapy vectors, and amyloid protein dynamics. He leads major grants totaling over £4M, including BBSRC Landscape Awards for doctoral training and DefSec Accelerator funding. Collaborations span academia and industry (e.g., Selective Antibodies, Hexis Labs). Education: PhD (Analytical Biotechnology, Cambridge), M.Phil (Bioscience Enterprise, Cambridge/MIT), Postdoc at Cambridge Key Awards: Medimmune Award, CambridgeSens Innovative Idea Award, Star Teaching Award Lab Focus: Biomanufacturing innovation, diagnostic tools, and bioactive scaffolds His lab actively recruits PhD students in biopharma, biotechnology, and bioscience innovation. Notable projects include £1.5M BBSRC Yorkshire Doctoral Training Programmes and Launchpad NetZero grants for bioprocessing advancements.







