Accelerating the engineering of chemical-producing microbes

We develop foundational technologies to more effectively engineering biological systems for chemical synthesis

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GPCR-based
biosensors

We are developing biosensors to accelerate the testing of chemical-producing microbes, with the goal of testing a million chemical-producing microbes in a single day.  This throughput can be leveraged to engineer chemical-producing strains at industrially relevant yields in a matter of days.

ACS Synth Biol, 2015

Microbial synthesis of alkaloids

Alkaloid-derived pharmaceuticals are commonly semi-synthesized from plant extracted starting materials, which often limits their availability and final price. Recent advances in synthetic biology have enabled the introduction of complete plant pathways into microbes for the production of plant alkaloids. We focus on the production of modified alkaloids, which has the potential to accelerate the semi-synthesis of alkaloid-derived drugs by providing advanced intermediates that are structurally closer to the final pharmaceuticals and could be used as advanced intermediates for the synthesis of novel drugs.

ACS Synth Biol, 2015
Nat Chem Biol, 2017

Microbial synthesis of fuels and chemicals

A third area in the laboratory focuses on converting  lignocellulosic biomass into high-energy density fuels and commodity chemicals. Recently we have engineered microbes to produce a biosynthetic alternative to the high energy density fuel JP10. 

ACS Synth Biol, 2014
Curr Opin Biotechnol, 2017

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