Research
Our group focuses on engineering biology to produce organic molecules of interest such as biofuels, commodity and specialty chemicals, and protein pharmaceuticals. To accomplish these tasks, traditional pathway engineering approaches are merged with novel synthetic biology tools, protein engineering strategies, systems biology paradigms and applied genetic engineering capabilities. We utilize a variety of host systems including microbial (eg. Escherichia coli), fungal (eg. the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Yarrowia lipolytica), and mammalian cells (eg. Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells and Human HEK293) to produce a diverse array of products. Specifically, our lab focusses on developing the methodologies and tools for altering cells and “hijacking” basic metabolism. The goal is to “rewire” cellular systems into industrially-relevant biochemical factories. In doing so, we are heavily invested in developing novel synthetic biology and directed evolution approaches aimed at increasing our capacity to engineer cells.