(4fw) Advanced Genetic Circuits for Environmental and Industrial Microorganisms

Microorganisms hold the key to addressing critical environmental challenges and enabling sustainable industrial processes. By engineering microorganisms, we can develop modalities to combat climate change and produce chemicals sustainably in bioreactors. However, only a handful of microorganism species have been engineered using modern genetic circuit design rules. My research aims to expand the scope of engineered microorganisms through three key initiatives:

1. Bioprospecting and Characterizing Microorganisms:

• Identify and isolate novel microorganisms from diverse environments with the potential for environmental and industrial applications.
• Develop a comprehensive library of genetic parts tailored for a wide range of microorganisms, facilitating the design and implementation of robust genetic circuits.

2. Enabling Genetic Circuit Design Automation:

• Create advanced computational tools and frameworks to automate the design, testing, and optimization of genetic circuits in microorganisms, accelerating the development process and enhancing circuit reliability.

3. Applications in Environmental Sustainability and Industrial Biotechnology:

• Engineer microorganisms to degrade pollutants, sequester carbon, and enhance agricultural productivity by improving plant growth, contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change and environmental degradation.
• Metabolically engineer microorganisms with advanced genetic circuits for the efficient and sustainable production of biofuels, bioplastics, and other valuable chemicals from renewable resources.

Research Experience

My graduate work was on developing advanced molecular tools for the metabolic engineering of industrial bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum. With the tools I had developed, I successfully engineered C. glutamicum to produce industrially important chemicals reaching titers of industrially relevant levels by metabolic engineering and optimizing fed-batch fermentation processes in bioreactors. My postdoctoral work was on developing methods to rapidly enable genetic circuit design automation for various soil bacteria. I characterized genetic gates across species and constructed genetic circuits capable of performing complex computations. The combination of metabolic engineering and advanced genetic circuit design principles has equipped me with the skills necessary to develop microorganisms as modalities for applications in environmental remediation and biomanufacturing.

Teaching Interests

I am enthusiastic about teaching a range of courses within the Chemical Engineering curriculum, leveraging my extensive background in biomedical engineering, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering. I can teach core courses such as Chemical Process Principles, Fluid Dynamics and Transport Phenomena. Additionally, I can contribute to advanced courses like Metabolic Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, and Synthetic Biology.

Moreover, I am passionate about developing new, hands-on courses to enhance experiential learning. I would be open to designing a course on Designing and Building Genetic Circuits, where students will learn the principles of synthetic biology and apply them to create functional genetic circuits in microorganisms. Another course I envision is Bioreactor Operation and Optimization, providing practical experience in running bioreactors and optimizing fermentation processes for industrial applications. These courses aim to bridge theoretical knowledge and practical skills, preparing students for the rapidly evolving fields of biotechnology and biomanufacturing.