Frank Sargent

Frank Sargent is Professor of Microbial Biotechnology at Newcastle University, UK. He has specialised in bacterial bioenergetics, particularly protein transport and enzymes containing nickel and molybdenum, including biotechnology applications.

Personal life Sargent spent his childhood at Glenrothes in Fife, Scotland. The surname 'Sargent' is an anglicized version of the Italian Sargenti/Sorgenti/Sorgente, which was modified during the second world war in an attempt to avoid internment. The Sargenti family originate from Francesco Sorgente and Concetta Riccitiello Sorgenti who settled in Trenton, New Jersey in the early 20th century.

Education Sargent studied at University of Edinburgh, obtaining a B. Sc. degree specialising in biochemistry in 1992. He gained a PhD at University of Dundee in 1996. . He is currently Deputy Chair of BBSRC Committee E (Fellowships).

Sargent became interested in bacterial bioenergetics as an undergraduate student and this developed into investigating how proteins were targeted in bacteria. While at University of East Anglia he led a team that mainly studied the biochemistry of bacterial Tat proofreading chaperones. These are small proteins that recognise and bind tightly to twin-arginine signal peptides.

Awards and honours In 2006 he was awarded the Microbiology Society Fleming Prize Lecture for his work on the biosynthesis of complex enzymes.

In 2007 he was awarded the Colworth Medal by the Biochemical Society.

In 2009 he was awarded a Young Scientist Prize by the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.