Dr Brenda Parker is an Associate Professor in the Dept of Biochemical Engineering at University College London.
Her current research seeks to address the need for sustainable and scalable platforms for industrial biotechnology and bio-integrated design. In 2018 Brenda co-founded the Bio-Integrated Design Lab together with Professor Marcos Cruz from the Bartlett School of Architecture. Bio-integrated design emerges from the complex relationship between specific climates, contexts and programs, and the interfacial properties of materials and organisms. It draws together two key phenomena – biology as the prime structure of life, and, as an integral part, us humans who through our global presence and physical habitats have entirely transformed our planet.
Biology plays a central role that goes beyond being a simple environmental regulator, model or inspiration; it is in itself the medium of a multi-layered design approach that is materially, socially and culturally integrated.
The work of Bio-ID has been exhibited internationally at the Centre Pompidou, London Design Festival and the Venice Biennale. An algal bioremediation project, INDUS, developed wihin the Bio-ID Lab won the Water Futures Design Challenge in 2019, and was shortlisted for Beazley Designs of the Year.
