Introducing Our Authors - ACS Synthetic Biology (ACS Publications)

Introducing Our Authors pubs.acs.org/synthbio

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ZEHUA BAO

Education. B.A.Sc., University of British Columbia, Canada, Advisor: Prof. Madjid Mohseni; M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Advisor: Prof. Huimin Zhao. Current Position. Co-founder and CEO of LifeFoundry, Inc.; Ph.D. student at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign. Nonscientific Interests. Running, hiking, biking, alpine skiing, camping, and making things. Machines have been applied in a number of engineering disciplines to extend humans’ capability on speed, durability, and intelligence. I envision that extended applications of computational tools and automated workflows will change the landscape of biological research. This work is our first application of such a biofoundry. The ultimate goal is to use computer algorithms to drive the entire design−build−test−learn cycles, which will allow us to study and engineer complex biological systems. (Read Chao’s article DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00293).

Zehua Bao

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Education. B.S. in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, Advisor: Prof. Zihe Rao. Current Position. Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Urbana, IL, Advisor: Prof. Huimin Zhao. Nonscientific Interests. Archery, ball games, hiking, photography, reading, and Chinese calligraphy. I am currently interested in understanding how genetic information is organized in the nucleus and how gene expression programs are regulated in time. I believe we can gain more knowledge by developing genome editing and transcriptome modulating tools. In this study, I developed inducible transcription activators that can be used to induce endogenous gene expressions in a ligand-dependent manner. Moreover, different genes can be activated independently. Though preliminary, this study serves as a first step toward perturbing and understanding complex transcriptional networks. (Read Bao’s article DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00313).

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FABIO CHIZZOLINI

Fabio Chizzolini

Education. Bachelor’s degree, Department of Biochemistry, University of Florence, Italy, Advisor: Prof. Elisabetta Meacci; Master’s degree, Imperial College of London, United Kingdom, Advisor: Prof. Tom Ellis; Ph.D., CIBIO, University of Trento, Italy, Prof. Advisor: Sheref S. Mansy. Current Position. Postdoctoral Fellow, Pharmaceutical Sciences Department, University of California−Irvine, CA. Advisor: Prof. Andrej Lupták. Nonscientific Interests. History of religions, birdwatching, and hiking. In this paper, we highlight several of the challenges that the field of cell-free synthetic biology is currently facing in scaling up the complexity of the molecular systems that can be reconstituted. Moreover, this paper shows how such challenges relate to fundamental questions of molecular biology, e.g., how RNA folding affects gene expression. Finally, I think that this paper is interesting as it is shows a solid example of combining

RAN CHAO

Ran Chao

Received: March 31, 2017 Published: April 21, 2017 © 2017 American Chemical Society

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DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.7b00107 ACS Synth. Biol. 2017, 6, 593−600

ACS Synthetic Biology

Introducing Our Authors

both an experimental and a computational approach to the problem of controlling gene expression in cell-free systems. (Read Chizzolini’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00250).

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Education. Bachelor’s degree, Computer Science, University of Waterloo; M.S., Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Advisors: Dr. Ming Li, Dr. Tomas Vinar; Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Advisor: Dr. Ming Li; Postdoctoral Fellow, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Advisor: Dr. Xin Gao Current Position. Assistant Professor, Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University Nonscientific Interests. Photography and scuba diving. I am interested in discovering and solving computational problems that can benefit everyday life. This includes designing and applying deep learning methods (e.g., generative adversarial networks) and parallel algorithms (e.g., CUDA programming). Specifically, in the field of computational biology, my recent research work includes the following problems: (1) remote protein homologue detection for protein structure prediction, (2) pairwise structure alignment of protein pockets and interaction interfaces, (3) foreign enzyme suggestion for biosynthesis pathway design, and (4) homologous gene finding. (Read Cui’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00278).

BRADY F. CRESS

Ashley Cress

Education. B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas; M.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas; Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering, Renssealer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, Advisors: Dr. Mattheos Koffas and Dr. Robert Linhardt. Current Position. Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Renssealer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. Nonscientific Interests. Playing guitar, writing, programming, and recording music, water sports, and traveling. One of the primary objectives of my Ph.D. was to develop tools to accelerate microbial metabolic engineering. In particular, we appealed to CRISPRi multiplexing with natural CRISPR arrays (rather than gRNAs) in order to downregulate pathways competing for carbon with our products of interest, such as flavanones and anthocyanins. Compared to performing more cumbersome traditional deletions, this strategy allows rapid phenotype and production assessment through transformation of plasmid-based combinatorial repression libraries into suites of distinct production strains. My passion is to innovate in areas that will make a significant positive impact on society, and I plan to apply the proficiencies I have gained in graduate school to continue developing synthetic biology tools for the production and design of novel therapeutic molecules and vectors. (Read Cress’ work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00350).

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JACOB A. ENGLAENDER

Jacob A. Englaender

Education. Ph.D. in Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, Advisors: Dr. Robert Linhardt and Dr. Mattheos Koffas; B.S. in Biology, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO. Current Position. Postgraduate researcher Nonscientific Interests. Baseball, games, hiking, “The Winds of Winter”. My graduate work was focused on utilizing chromosomal integration for uses in protein expression and metabolic engineering in E. coli. Our studies concluded that gene expression is location-dependent on the genome, which means that integration location can be used to modulate gene expression for optimization of protein expression and metabolite production. By comparing protein expression of the fluorescent reporter protein mCherry, we found that expression from the genome could be higher than expression from multicopy plasmids. Genomic integration could be the future standard for heterologous expression of proteins and pathways because it negates the requirement for antibiotic selection and could also result in lower metabolic burden caused by multicopy plasmids. (Read Englaender’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00350).

XUEFENG CUI

Xuefeng Cui

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MICHELE FORLIN

Nonscientific Interests. Basketball and swimming. Dr. Gao’s research interests are building computational models, developing machine learning techniques, and designing efficient and effective algorithms, with particular focus on applications to key open problems in structural biology, systems biology and synthetic biology. He has coauthored more than 100 research articles in the fields of bioinformatics and machine learning. (Read Gao’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00278).

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MURTAZA SHABBIR HUSSAIN

Michele Forlin

Education. Ph.D., The Microsoft Research − University of Trento, Centre for Computational and Systems Biology, Italy, Advisor: Dr. Corrado Priami; Postdoctoral Fellow, ECLT − European Centre for Living Technology, Italy, Advisor: Dr. Irene Poli; Postdoctoral Fellow, CIBIO − Centre for Integrative Biology, Italy, Advisor: Dr. Sheref S. Mansy. Current Position. Assistant Scientist, University of Miami. Nonscientific Interests. Outdoor activities, sports (mainly soccer and tennis), and I am a Fiorentina fan. My interests are at the intersection of computational, systems and synthetic biology and, in particular, understanding how biological systems receive, process and deliver information. In this article we showed how variability affects protein expression in cell-free systems, but also how properly inferred computational models can give accurate enough predictions. Recently, I joined the University of Miami to work on the challenging and data intense project LINCS (lincsproject.org). As part of the BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, I’m building a computational framework for the analysis of integrated cell responses to genetic and environmental perturbations. (Read Forlin’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00250).

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Murtaza Shabbir Hussain

Education. B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Wyoming; B.A. in Chemistry, University of Wyoming. Current Position. Ph.D. student, Clemson University, Advisor: Dr. Mark A. Blenner. Nonscientific Interests. Teaching fitness classes and playing Frisbee with my dog (Bella). My research has mostly focused on the engineering and application of genetic tools for efficient metabolic engineering in the oleaginous yeast, Y. lipolytica. Understanding gene regulation and building genetic switches to control the level of expression and timing are critical factors toward development of better engineered strains and controlling metabolic pathways. The paper on markerless gene integration is novel as it both identifies and characterizes genomic hot spots for quick and efficient integration using the CRISPR/Cas9 system combined with homologous recombination. This work provides researchers with new genetic tools and insights for rational strain engineering in Y. lipolytica. (Read Hussain’s work DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.5b00162).

XIN GAO

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J. ANDREW JONES

Yudian Huang

Education. Bachelor’s degree, Computer Science, Tsinghua University, China; Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Canada, Advisor: Dr. Ming Li. Current Position. Associate Professor, Computational Bioscience Research Center, Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia.

Nancy L. Ford

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Education. B.SE. in Biomedical Engineering and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Mercer University in Macon, GA. Advisor: Dr. Laura Lackey. Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Advisor: Dr. Mattheos Koffas. Current Position. Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. Nonscientific Interests. Traveling, vegetable gardening, and Atlanta Braves baseball. My research interests are centered on using synthetic biology and metabolic engineering practices to develop microbial strains for high-value chemical production. Specifically, I am interested in the development of new tools and techniques to simplify the strain optimization process. Recently, I have been focusing on the use of microbial cocultures and polycultures (multiple strains growing together in a single fermentation) as a method to extend natural biosynthetic pathways. I am excited about the potential for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology-based approaches to enable the cheap, sustainable, and safe production of a wide variety of drugs and drug precursors. I hope that one day my work will result in a production process that lowers the cost and environmental impact of producing a life-improving pharmaceutical product. (Read Jones’ work DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.6b00350).

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MATTHEOS KOFFAS

Brady Cress

Education. B.S. in Chemical Engineering, National Technical University, Athens, Greece; Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Advisor: Gregory Stephanopoulos. Current Position. Dorothy and Fred Chau ’71 Constellation Professor, Renssealer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. Nonscientific Interests. Travel, antiques, museums, and cardio exercising. For the past 15 years, my group has been working on developing metabolic engineering and synthetic biology tools for engineering the microbial production of natural products and commodity chemicals. In this paper we explored the effect of chromosomal integration of metabolic pathways on recombinant molecule production (specifically flavonoids and violacein) as well as the effect of different integration locations on the overall metabolic capabilities of the resulting recombinant strains. The work in my lab includes both computational (Genome Scale Models) and experimental work. My ultimate goal is to create commercially viable, competitive approaches for the production of complex molecules using recombinant systems and also apply our understanding of cellular metabolism in developing therapies and treating diseases. (Read Koffas’ work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00350).

MYEONG-GYUN KANG

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Myeong-Gyun Kang

Education. B.S., Department of Biomedical Science, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Advisor: Prof. Hyun-Woo Rhee. Current Position. Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. Nonscientific Interests. Playing squash, table tennis, and basketball. My research is focused on proximity labeling reaction development to identify the protein protein interactions (PPIs) and protein localization in mammalian cells. This study has helped to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic “interactome” in living cellular systems. In our paper, we employed bacterial flavin transferase for unique post-translational modification for visualizing PPIs and providing in cellulo proteasome activity screening system. Presently, we aim to engineer the proximity labeling system to improve the labeling affinity for high-resolution protein mapping. (Read Kang’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00284).

HIROYUKI KUWAHARA

Akiko Kuwahara

Education. Ray and Stephanie Lane Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University (Advisors: Prof. Russell Schwartz and Prof. Veronica Hinman); Junior Researcher, Microsoft Research − University of Trento CoSBi; Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Utah 596



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(Advisor: Prof. Chris Myers); B.S. in Computer Science, University of Utah. Current Position. Research Scientist in Computational Bioscience Research Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Nonscientific Interests. Spending time with my family, playing shogi, learning financial trading, lacto-fermenting foods, and finding great eateries. I am interested in a wide range of research topics in computational modeling and analysis of complex systems. Among my research interests in synthetic biology is the development of computational methods to make metabolic engineering easier. One of our previous work in this research direction developed a tool to suggest biosynthetic pathways for a given natural product by considering the specific context of the host’s metabolic infrastructure. From that project, we thought that it would be very useful to have a standardized format to represent heterologous biosynthetic pathways. In this work, we developed an open-access repository of SBOL-compliant metabolic parts. We hope that this repository can facilitate the use of standards in metabolic engineering and help streamline the design of naturalproduct biosynthesis systems. (Read Kuwahara’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00278).

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RICHARD A. LEASE

Samuel D. Stimple

Education. B.A. in Biology, and B.S. in Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin; Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Texas at Dallas, Advisor, Dr. Thomas Yee; Postdoctoral Fellow, Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research, NY State Dept. of Health/SUNY, Albany, NY, Advisor: Dr. Marlene Belfort. Current Position. Research Scientist and Principal Investigator, William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University. Nonscientific Interests. Hiking and movies. Cells are chemical factories containing metabolic pathways that resemble Rube-Goldberg devices. To optimize synthesis of desired chemicals via fermentation and minimize undesired products we are developing synthetic RNA tools to tune the fluxes of metabolic pathways. Our paper describes the development of a bacterial synthetic sRNA platform for fine-tuning mRNA translation using modular antisense RNA domains. We reverse engineered distinctive RNA structural motifs from a natural regulatory sRNA into simplified forms. Then, we built a genetic system to test these engineered RNA motifs for their activity in targeting non-native mRNA transcripts. We retargeted and validated single sRNA variants that decrease the expression of two non-native mRNA targets simultaneously. Ultimately these tools will be used to coordinate regulation of multiple points in a metabolic pathway. (Read Lease’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00261).

ASHWIN LAHIRY

Ashwin Lahiry

Education. B.Tech. in Biotechnology, Amity University, India; M.S. in Biotechnology, Lund University, Sweden. Current Position. Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Advisor: Dr. David W. Wood. Nonscientific Interests. Travel, food, soccer (Manchester United), and more sports and movies. My research focuses on developing tools for biotechnology applications. During my Ph.D., I have worked on developing sRNA tools for metabolic engineering applications and purification tags for tagless and traceless purification of proteins. In this paper, we share our research regarding the retargeting of DsrA, a E. coli based small RNA capable of targeting multiple mRNA transcripts. We have built and validated a unique threeplasmid-system for semirationally engineering the sRNA to target two non-native mRNA translation initiation regions. We also demonstrate the tuning ability of this sRNA and discuss the metabolic engineering advantages of having a sRNA tool capable of tuning gene expression of two different mRNA targets simultaneously. (Read Lahiry’s work DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.6b00261).

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JING LIANG

Jing Liang

Education. B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular 597



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Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Advisor: Dr. Huimin Zhao. Current Position. Research Scientist, Metabolic Engineering Research Lab, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore. Nonscientific Interests. Food, wine, travel, and hiking. My research interest is in developing biomolecular tools for synthetic biology, genome editing, and medical diagnostic applications. TAL Effector Nuclease (TALEN) is a popular tool for precision genome editing in a wide range of host organisms. However, TALEN functions as a heterodimeric pair, which poses a challenge for its synthesis as well as library screening applications. In this paper, we presented the fully automated one-step synthesis of single-transcript TALEN pairs. With this capability, it is now possible to explore the use of TALEN libraries for use in genetic screening. (Read Liang’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00293).

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ZIHE LIU

Shuobo Shi

Education. B.S. in Biological Engineering, Tianjin University, China, Advisor: Prof. Xueming Zhao; M.S. in Metabolic Engineering, Tianjin University, China, Advisor: Prof. Xueming Zhao; Ph.D. in Systems and Synthetic Biology, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, Advisor: Prof. Jens Nielsen. Current Position. Scientist I, Metabolic Engineering Research Laboratory, Science and Engineering Institutes, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore. Nonscientific Interests. Badminton, music, and movies. My research focuses on metabolic engineering of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce high value products. In connection with this, I am interested in understanding yeast metabolisms using systems biology tools and developing synthetic biology tools for yeast engineering. Genome integration is a powerful tool in both basic and applied biological research. Recent emergence of programmable nucleases has greatly enhanced integration efficiencies and allowed alternative integration mechanisms in hosts deficient in homologous recombination. Going forward, we expect faster, more multiplexable, highly efficient and accurate integrations of larger DNA constructs in most model organisms. In this review, we highlight recent advances and breakthroughs in genome integration methods and their new applications with a goal to provide a helpful resource to researchers in the areas of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. (Read Liu’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00331).

YOUYUN LIANG

Lai Han Seng

Education. B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Joint Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Advisor: Yen Wah Tong, and University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, USA, Advisor: Hyunjoon Kong. Current Position. Food Scientist in Nestlé, Singapore. Nonscientific Interests. Taekwondo, Muay Thai, reading, and photography. I started in the area of tissue engineering and biomaterials in my Ph.D. where I designed different biomaterials to control cell phenotype and function. For my postdoc at the Metabolic Engineering Research Laboratory, I worked in the area of synthetic biology where I designed genetic circuits and tweaked genomes of different microbes. I recently joined Nestlé as a food scientist and I am now trying to find (non-GM) ways of making food healthier through biotransformation. While the research areas that I have worked in are very distinct, the diversity offers new perspectives and gives me the ability to come up with creative solutions. For that, I am extremely grateful to all the advisors who have guided me along the way, imparting their vast scientific knowledge. (Read Liang’s work DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.6b00331).

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DAVID R. MCMILLEN

Cynthia Goh

Education. Ph.D., University of Toronto, Advisor, G.M.T. D’Eleuterio; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for BioDynamics, Boston University, Advisors, J.J. Collins and N. Kopell). 598



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Current Position. Associate Professor, Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Cell and Systems Biology, and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto Mississauga. Nonscientific Interests. I’m interested in history, mythology, and spoken-word storytelling. My wife and I met at a weekly storytelling event in Toronto, and now we travel the world together (dragging the kids along as needed), visiting historical sites and local grocery stores with equal frequency. The photo was taken in Istanbul, a history buff’s dream of a city. The McMillen lab works on implementing synthetic biological constructs in bacteria, yeast, and human cells, and we combine wet lab work with computational and analytical modeling studies. In addition to trying to explore new modes of biological regulation, as in this paper, we have an ongoing interest in the applied side of synthetic biology, particularly with reference to its potential for low-cost solutions in low-resource settings. (Read McMillen’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00125).

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RAMZAN UMAROV

Ramzan Umarov

Education. B.Sc. in Computer Science at Royal Holloway, Advisor: Victor Solovyev; M.Sc. in Advanced Computing at Imperial College, Advisor: Herbert Wiklicky; Ph.D. in Computer Science − King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Advisor: Xin Gao. Current Position. Graduate Student. Nonscientific Interests. Playing games and watching movies. My Ph.D. work focuses on applying machine learning to problems in computational biology. I have been involved in creation of novel tools for recognition of prokaryotic and eukaryotic promoters. Our current knowledge of promoters indicates their complex architecture that is often composed of numerous functional motifs. Most of known promoters include multiple and in some cases mutually exclusive transcription start sites (TSSs). Moreover, TSS selection depends on cell/tissue, development stage and environmental conditions. Such complex promoter structures make their computational identification notoriously difficult. Experimental methods to identify promoters are still laborious, time-consuming and expensive. So, it is important to develop algorithms that can rapidly and accurately predict promoters. (Read Umarov’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00278).

SAMUEL D. STIMPLE

Anthony Aquillo

Education. B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, Advisor: Basar Bilgicer. Current Position. Ph.D. Candidate, William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Advisor: David W. Wood. Nonscientific Interests. Golf, softball, watching football and baseball, and fly fishing. I am passionate about biomanufacturing, and my research involves the development of tools for use in the fields of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. Additionally, my work includes protein engineering with applications in the field of bioseparations. In this paper we demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing a retargeted bacterial small RNA (E. coli DsrA) to simultaneously tune down the translation of two noncognate mRNAs, and provide a general framework for the design of such multitarget sRNAs. Due to the simplicity of the method, regulating multiple genes in a metabolic pathway with a single exogenously supplied sRNA can be advantageous compared to traditional gene knockout approaches. Moreover, regulation by sRNAs allows for “tuning down” the translation of essential genes that may not be viable targets using traditional metabolic engineering (gene knockout) methodologies. (Read Stimple’s work DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00261).

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NANXI WANG

Nanxi Wang

Education. B.S. in Pharmaceutical Science, China Pharmaceutical University. Current Position. Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Advisor: Dr. Jiantao Guo. Nonscientific Interests. Anime, reading, and travel. 599



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My research is focused on the development and the application of genetic code engineering for biochemical and biomedical investigations. Previously, we introduced a novel synthetic biology approach to control the replication of HIV-1 by manipulating the expression of essential viral proteins via nonsense codon suppression using an exogenously expressed amber suppression machinery. In this work, we successfully constructed HIV-1 variants that could undergo multiple replication-infection cycles by integrating the amber suppression machinery onto the HIV-1 genome. The replication of these HIV-1 variants could be turned on and off in the presence and absence of an unnatural amino acid, respectively. This artificial genetic switch addressed the safety concern on uncontrolled replication of live-attenuated HIV-1 vaccines. This approach can be potentially used to generate live-attenuated vaccines to protect us against other pathogens. (Read Wang’s work DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.6b00373).

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YUCHEN ZHANG

Hui Tao

Education. B.S. in Pharmaceutical science, Wuhan University, China. Current Position. Ph.D. Candidate, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Advisor: Dr. Tiangang Liu. Nonscientific Interests. Soccer and traveling. My research focuses on developing novel drug delivery system by utilizing cell-free biology and synthetic biology approaches. In our paper, we in vitro reconstituted the entire pathway that converts glucose to fatty acid built up with 30 purified proteins. After systematical optimization the glycolytic pathway and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, we increased fatty acid production from undetectable level to approximately 10% of the maximum theoretical yield. Moving forward, we aim to develop the entire pathway responsible for membrane synthesis and to stablish a self-replicable artificial membrane system for drug delivery. (Read Zhang’s article DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.6b00348).

ZHE YUAN

Zhe Yuan

Education. B.S. in Biological Sciences, M.S. in Molecular Cell Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; M.S. in Biochemistry, University of Nebraska−Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA. Current Position. Ph.D. student, Nebraska Center for Virology and School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska−Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA. Advisor: Dr. Qingsheng Li. Nonscientific Interests. Kung Fu, cooking, and cuisine cultures. My research is focused on HIV origin, pathogenesis, latency and vaccine development. In our paper, we incorporated the amber suppression machinery into HIV-1 genome to control the replication of HIV-1 by switching the expression of essential viral proteins via nonsense codon suppression. Presence of unnatural amino acid makes our engineered HIV variants independently undergo multiple life cycles, which provides the possibility of self-involving evolution. Absence of unnatural amino acid will stop the further round of infection to minimize the safety concern on the live-attenuated HIV-1 vaccine. The conceptual framework and experimental system developed in this study can also be used to generate live-attenuated vaccines protecting against other pathogens. (Read Yuan’s work DOI: 10.1021/ acssynbio.6b00373). 600


Introducing Our Authors - ACS Synthetic Biology (ACS Publications)

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