I am a scientist in the Biological Computation research group (part of Computational Science Laboratory) at Microsoft Research, Cambridge.
I'm interested in how biological systems perform computation to tackle complex problems. The immune system is able to mount effective and targeted responses, even when it has never seen the pathogen. This requires information processing at a level of abstraction far deeper than the proteins which comprise the organism.
I'm also interested in Synthetic Biology, asking how we can utilise the machinery of cells to perform new functions. Endowing cells with additional functions and refining their mechanisms enables us to enhance production of biofuels and medicine.
In all of our research areas, we are developing software tools to enable other researchers to understand or create biological function.
Opportunities
Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship in "Dynamic modelling of HIV recognition by the immune system" - collaboration with Prof Peter Coveney at University College London. APPLY QUICKLY!
Biography
I studied Mathematics at the University of Oxford, UK (2001-2005), during which time I also worked for Vector Fields Ltd. as a Support and Applications Engineer.
I then went to the University of Cambridge to do a Ph.D, the project being a collaboration between Alex Webb's group at the Department of Plant Sciences and Jorge Goncalves in the Control Group at the Department of Engineering. My can download my thesis here.
Prior to joining Microsoft Research as a post doc, I held a research associate position in the Control Group, working with Glenn Vinnicombe on applications of stochastic control theory to gene networks.
Contact
Press
- Neil wins 2011 Tansley Medal for Excellence in Plant Science - New Phytologist, December 2011
- Researchers Find Link Between Plant Metabolism and Biological Clock - Crop Biotech Update, 25th March 2011
- Coming Soon to a Lab Near You: Drag-and-Drop Virtual Worlds - Science, 11th February 2011
2012
- Neil Dalchau, Matthew Smith, Samuel Martin, James R Brown, Stephen Emmott, and Andrew Phillips, Towards the rational design of synthetic cells with prescribed population dynamics, in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. In Press, The Royal Society, May 2012
- Neil Dalchau, Understanding biological timing using mechanistic and black-box models, in New Phytologist, vol. 193, no. 4, pp. 852-858, March 2012
2011
- Neil Dalchau, Andrew Phillips, Leonard D Goldstein, Mark Howarth, Luca Cardelli, Stephen Emmott, Tim Elliott, and Joern M Werner, A peptide filtering relation quantifies MHC class I peptide optimization, in PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. e1002144, PLoS, 13 October 2011
- Neil Dalchau, Seong Jin Baek, Helen M Briggs, Fiona C Robertson, Antony N Dodd, Michael J Gardner, Matthew A Stancombe, Michael J Haydon, Guy-Bart Stan, Jorge M Goncalves, and Alex AR Webb, The circadian oscillator gene GIGANTEA mediates a long-term response of the Arabidopsis thaliana circadian clock to sucrose, in PNAS, vol. 108, no. 12, pp. 5104-5109, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 22 March 2011
- Neil Dalchau and Alex AR Webb, Ticking over - Circadian systems across the kingdoms of life, in Biochemist, vol. 33, no. 1, 1 February 2011
2010
- Andy van Hateren, Ed James, Alistair Bailey, Andrew Phillips, Neil Dalchau, and Tim Elliott, The cell biology of major histocompatibility complex class I assembly: towards a molecular understanding, in Tissue Antigens, vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 259 - 275, Wiley, October 2010
- Neil Dalchau, Katharine E Hubbard, Fiona C Robertson, Carlos T Hotta, Helen M Briggs, Guy-Bart Stan, Jorge M Goncalves, and Alex A R Webb, Correct biological timing in Arabidopsis requires multiple light signaling pathways, in PNAS, vol. 107, no. 29, pp. 13171-13176, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1 July 2010
- Mathew G Lewsey, Alex M Murphy, Daniel MacLean, Neil Dalchau, Jack H Westwood, Keith Macaulay, Mark H Bennett, Michael Moulin, David E Hanke, Glen Powell, Alison G Smith, and John P Carr, Disruption of two defensive signaling pathways by a viral RNA silencing suppressor, in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interations, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 835-845, 2010
2009
- Katharine E Hubbard, Fiona C Robertson, Neil Dalchau, and Alex A R Webb, Systems analyses of circadian networks., in Molecular Biosystems, vol. 5, pp. 1502-1511, 3 August 2009
2008
- Neil Dalchau, Mathematical modelling of circadian signalling in Arabidopsis, December 2008
2007
- Antony N Dodd, Michael J Gardner, Carlos T Hotta, Katharine E Hubbard, Neil Dalchau, John Love, Jean-Maurice Assie, Fiona C Robertson, Mia Kyed Jakobsen, Jorge Gonçalves, Dale Sanders, and Alex A R Webb, The Arabidopsis circadian clock incorporates a cADPR-based feedback loop., in Science, vol. 318, no. 5857, pp. 1789–1792, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 14 December 2007
- Carlos T Hotta, Michael J Gardner, Katharine E Hubbard, Seong Jin Baek, Neil Dalchau, Dontamala Suhita, Antony N Dodd, and Alex A R Webb, Modulation of environmental responses of plants by circadian clocks., in Plant Cell Environ, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 333–349, March 2007
- Joseph Eugene, Clive Lewis, Chris Riley, Neil Dalchau, and Alex Michaelides, FEA Modelling of a Novel Tubular Linear Generator, in Linear Drives for Industrial Applications, 2007
- Katharine E Hubbard, Carlos T Hotta, Michael J Gardner, Seong Jin Baek, Neil Dalchau, Suhita Dontamala, Antony N. Dodd, and Alex AR Webb, Circadian Rhythms in Stomata: Physiological and Molecular Aspects, pp. 157–177, Springer-Verlag, 2007
