(2eo) Engineering and Analysis of Electromicrobial Production Systems

Research Interests: Metabolic engineering, electromicrobial production, biochemical engineering, process modeling & life cycle analysis

Biochemical engineering for the production of fuels and commodity chemicals is a promising alternative to fossil-based production. However, conventional biochemical systems rely on heterotrophic microbes and are therefore dependent on agriculture to produce microbial feedstocks. To overcome these shortcomings, researchers have proposed various forms of electromicrobial production (EMP) in which electricity or electrically-generated mediator molecules serve as the microbial energy source to drive biochemical processes. Benchtop-scale experiments with EMP systems based on formatotrophic, Knallgas, and acetogenic bacteria have been performed. However, several gaps remain prior to the industrial adoption of these systems, including a lack of experiments performed with scaled-up systems, a smaller product spectrum than that which exists for traditional heterotroph-based processes, and difficult bioseparations of certain products.

Throughout my doctoral research, I have sought to address gaps in the field of electromicrobial production through both experimental and analytical efforts. First, I have developed integrated bioreactor, process, and life cycle impact models of hypothetical scaled-up electromicrobial production systems. As EMP systems still primarily reside on the laboratory bench, robust modeling is helpful to assess the viability of EMP for industrial adoption. This integrated framework allows prediction of productivities, energy demands, life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and land use of EMP systems producing various products, in comparison to traditional bioprocesses and to other EMP systems. Second, I have developed a simplified process for downstream recovery of intracellular biomacromolecules from microbes used in EMP processes. Combining adaptive laboratory evolution and rational genetic engineering, I developed strains of formatotrophic microbes that are susceptible to cell lysis upon osmotic downshock, significantly reducing the energy and material demand for downstream recovery. Lastly, I have used metabolic engineering and adaptive laboratory evolution to develop strains capable of formatotrophic, acetotrophic, and hydrogenotrophic production of biofuels and studied the effect of bioreactor operating conditions on the yield of the desired product.

I am seeking a postdoctoral position where I can continue working primarily in the fields of biochemical and metabolic engineering. I am particularly interested in applying these skills toward solving environmental challenges by engineering microbial systems for applications such as sustainable bioproduction, bioremediation, and circular carbon economies.