(4aa) Developing Biosensors for Characterizing Protein-Metal Interactions

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical to the U.S. economy and security due to their widespread use across manufacturing, energy, and national security sectors. Lanmodulin (LanM) has been proposed as a promising REE-binding protein for REE separation, as it has remarkable affinity and high selectivity for REEs over non-REE metal ion impurities. However, the separation of coexisting individual REEs through LanM remains a challenge to date. To improve the specificity of LanM to individual lanthanides, a combined strategy of computation-aided design and high-throughput combinatorial library screening will be necessary. This presentation will describe our efforts to create a fluorescent biosensor for the high-throughput screening of LanM variants with improved specificity to individual lanthanides. Protein engineering combined to high-throughput screening using yeast surface display was utilized to select variants with high affinity and specificity to individual lanthanides. Overall, we aim to develop a high-throughput platform to screen metal protein interactions with long term applications in metal sensing to biomining and bioseparation.

Research Interests

Dr. Jingyao Li is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in January 2024. His Ph.D. research focuses on developing high-performance protein-based biomaterials. Dr. Li is particularly interested in the de novo design of functional proteins and enzymes using computational and high-throughput screening methods to facilitate industrial bioproduction processes.