RSC Horizon Prize short film celebrates discovery in microbial organosulfur recycling

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Posted on Friday 18 July 2025

A Royal Society of Chemistry Horizon Prize film celebrates pioneering work on microbial sulfur recycling by researchers in the department and international collaborators. Discover how microbes power ecosystems and climate via organosulfur metabolism.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has launched a new short film celebrating the recipients of the Biosulfur Recyclers Prize, highlighting their pioneering work on how microbes recycle organosulfur. The team at York Chemistry, including Dr. Mahima Sharma, Dr. Isabelle Pickles, Dr. Johan Turkenburg, Mr. Sam Hart and Prof. Gideon J Davies along with international collaborators from Universities of Melbourne (Williams group, Goddard-Borger group), Hosei, Kyoto & Meiji, uncovered how plant-derived sulfosugar sulfoquinovose (SQ) is metabolised by gut and environmental bacteria, providing critical insight into global sulfur cycling and microbial ecology.

As part of the 2024 RSC Horizon Prize, the team received a professionally produced film showcasing their prize-winning work, by Cambridge Filmworks. Watch the film to explore the hidden world of microbial sulfur recycling, discover how microbes recycle biosulfur from plants to power ecosystems, sustain gut health, and shape the planet’s climate, all in a 2-minute animation that is particularly targeted at secondary school and undergraduate students.

Explore the team’s featured work here:

2021: 10.1021/acscentsci.0c01285

2022: 10.1073/pnas.2116022119

2023: 10.1021/jacs.3c11126

Notes to editors:

The Horizon Prize film can be viewed here