Plastics Recycling & Redesign, Enzyme Discovery & Engineering, Biomass Upcycling, Molecular biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, and X-ray Crystallography

Professor John McGeehan, Ph.D., is a research scientist specializing in biobased solutions for recycling plastic waste. His team is internationally recognized for their work on engineering enzymes for the deconstruction and recycling of plastics, particularly polyesters, found in single-use packaging and textiles. John also conducts research in lignocellulosic biomass upcycling. He is interested in projects that can translate fundamental research into scalable solutions that reduce energy and GHGs, valorize waste feedstocks, and create sustainable circular chemicals and materials.

John was previously the Secretary General of the World Plastics Association Monaco, fostering international collaboration between academia, industry, and NGOs. He was also Director of the Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) at the University of Portsmouth UK, working extensively with researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Colorado. He was trained in protein X-ray crystallography and biophysics at the European Synchrotron (ESRF) in Grenoble where he held a fellowship at the EMBL. John has a Ph.D. in Virology and a B.Sc. Hons in Microbiology from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. With 30 years of research and leadership experience, he has attracted funding of over $13m, and has co-authored papers on the engineering of PETase enzymes that have reached scientific and public audiences worldwide. Contact John.