A major focus of our research is metabolic pathway engineering in yeast, focusing on both the development of improved methods and their application to diverse pathways. The research emphasizes molecular level design combined with subsequent application and analysis. Our work ranges from engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the synthesis of polyketides (a very valuable class of pharmaceuticals) and collagen-based biopolymers, to engineering yeast for biorenewable and environmental applications. Current projects in my lab include:
1. Development of Tools for Metabolic Pathway Engineering
Focus is on the stable introduction and expression of multiple genes to optimize pathway engineering in yeast
2. Microbial Metabolic Engineering for the Synthesis of Biorenewable Chemicals (Member of CBiRC, an NSF Engineering Research Center)
3. Metabolic Engineering of Yeast for Biofuels Production
Use of cellulosomes to control the display of enzymes on the cell surface for increased synergy and rapid uptake of the released sugars
4. Optimizing S. cerevisiae for the Synthesis of Polyketides
Primary focus are the fungal iterative polyketide synthases for 6-MSA and lovastatin synthesis
5. Synthesis and Characterization of Cell-Responsive Biopolymers