CWhitford@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. student at Technical University of Denmark Bachelors and Masters in Molecular Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, Germany Research My research focuses on the development of CRISPR tools for streptomycetes with the goal of decreasing DTBL cycle times. In particular, I focus on multiplexed base editing, and novel genome engineering systems utilizing non-standard Cas effectors.
Chenyi Li
chenyiliphd@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Georgia B.S. in Bioengineering, Beijing Institute of Technology Research Chenyi Li’s primary research goal in the Keasling lab is to engineer polyketide synthases for the biosynthesis of valuable compounds. Previously, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Georgia under the supervision of Prof. Yajun […]
Lucas Waldburger
lwaldburger@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. Student in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco B.A., UC Berkeley Research I’m interested in using machine learning and functional genomics to explore biosynthetic diversity and engineer complex functions in living systems. My current research focuses on using high-throughput synthetic biology to decipher natural genetic circuits and design synthetic programs in […]
Thomas Young
tyoung@lbl.gov Education PhD in Physical Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles B.S. in Biochemistry, Chemistry, University of Washington Research I am engineering polyketide synthases to produce commodity chemicals. In particular, I am developing niche fuels containing poly-cyclopropane units. I am also interested in creating autotrophic microbial chassis that can produce such chemical products from carbon […]
Namil Lee
NamilLee@lbl.gov Education PhD in Bioengineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology M.S. in Bioengineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology B.S. in Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Research My primary research goal is designing and engineering retrobiosynthesis machinery for novel compound production. Also, I’m interested in systematic approaches for […]
Allie Pearson
al.pearson@lbl.gov Education Microbiology PhD student in Plant and Microbial Biology Department, University of California, Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley Research I’m interested in utilizing functional genomics to study host metabolisms/regulatory systems and the directed evolution of transcription factor based biosensors.
Jacob B. Roberts
jbr@lbl.gov Education PhD Student in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco BS in Computer Science and Engineering Physics, Cornell University Research I’m excited about carbon reduction and sequestration, and in the Keasling lab two areas in particular. First, computational optimization of novel polyketide synthases (PKSs) for retrobiosynthesis. Second, reengineering of carbon metabolism to improve reactor […]
Isaac Donnell
idonnell@lbl.gov Education PhD student in Chemistry, UC Berkeley B.A. in Chemistry with distinction, Carleton College Research I am interested in bringing new chemistries into metabolic pathways to generate novel natural products, and developing assays for directed evolution of these pathways
Leah Keiser
lkeiser@lbl.gov Education PhD student in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. Research My research interests include synthetic biology and protein engineering. I am researching how we can engineer polyketide synthases for the efficient production of novel products.
Sarah Klass
sklass@berkeley.edu Education Emory University, Atlanta GA, B.S University of California Berkeley, Ph.D. Research With a chemistry and chemical biology background, my focus has been on chemically and genetically modifying natural protein structures for advanced material functions. During my Ph.D. in the Francis lab at UC Berkeley, I studied the impact of sequence modification on intrinsically […]
Guangxu Lan
Education PhD Chemistry, University of Chicago BS Chemistry, Peking University Research Guangxu’s work focuses on engineering bacterium to convert polyolefin waste into value-added chemicals. Present estimates suggest that of the 359 million tons of plastics produced annually worldwide, 150-200 million tons accumulate in landfill or in the natural environment. To recover this plastic waste, particularly […]
Graham Hudson
Education PhD Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign B.S. Biochemistry, Saint Louis University Research Graham is a chemical biologist working as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley for Dr. Jay Keasling. Graham earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from Saint Louis University during which he performed research in the lab of Prof. Brent Znosko and investigated […]
Vayu Maini Rekdal
Miller Institute Postdoctoral Fellow vayu.mr@gmail.com Education Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Harvard University B.A. in Biology and Chemistry summa cum laude, Carleton College Research Vayu’s first experiments were done in the kitchen of his multicultural home in Stockholm, Sweden. He initially moved to the U.S. to work in restaurants, but the flavors, textures, and sensations of the […]
Aidan Cowan
aidancowan@berkeley.edu Education PhD student in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley B.A. in Biology, Macalester College Research Aidan is interested in developing selection systems that allow for the evolution of proteins or strains with desirable traits. He takes a combinatorial approach to experimental design and is excited by large and diverse DNA libraries. […]
Anna Lisa Fear
alfear@lbl.gov Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology – B.Sc. Life Science 1987 – B.Sc. Humanities and Science – Creative Writing, Theater, and Biology 1986 Research Strain and Enzyme Engineering Linkedin
Chunjun Zhan
chunjunzhan@lbl.gov Jiangnan University, China Education Ph.D. Light Industry Technology, Jiangnan University， China MS Light Industry Technology, Jiangnan University, China Research My background is metabolic engineering, especially engineer different pathways in yeast. One of my focuses is the engineering of Pichia pastoris for protein expression and high-valued chemical production. I also investigate one-carbon source (methanol) utilization in […]
Tom myces, PhD
Specialist in biosynthesis PhD, Fancy university of the soil >28 000 Publications https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/all/?term=streptomyces Synthesized many drugs now in the market Loves to sporulate
Matthias Schmidt
mschmidt@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. in Synthetic Biology at RWTH Aachen University, Germany M.S. in Molecular and Applied Biotechnology from RWTH Aachen University, Germany B.S. in Chemistry and Biotechnology from Hochschule Niederrhein, Germany Research I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Keasling Lab focusing on engineering type I polyketide synthases for the production of specialty chemicals. Furthermore, […]
Seokjung Cheong
scheong@lbl.gov Education PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Biological Engineering, Tsinghua University Research I am a postdoctoral research with metabolic engineering background, and my current research goal in Keasling Lab is to produce commodity chemicals through engineered polyketide synthases (PKSs) in microbes like E. coli and Streptomyces. […]
Zilong Wang
zilongwang@lbl.gov Education PhD Biotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore MS Biology, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhongshan University), China Research My background is on the structural & functional study of polyketide synthase (PKS) and its engineering. One of my focus is on the biosynthesis with chimeric PKS to produce valuable compounds. We use synthetic biology to effectively […]
Robert Bertrand
RobertBertrand@lbl.gov Education BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Winnipeg PhD in Natural Products Chemistry at the University of Manitoba Research Developing high-energy polyketide biofuels.
“Dan” Qingyun Dan
qdan@lbl.gov Education: Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor B.S. Biological Sciences, Peking University Research interests: My primary research goal in the Keasling lab is to understand PKS/NRPS biochemistry and structure for bioproduction of useful chemicals. I am also interested in identifying and characterizing novel biochemical pathways in nature. Google Scholar Linkedin
Bridget Luckie
BLuckie@lbl.gov Education PhD student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program at UC Berkeley B.S in Biochemistry and B.S. in Genetics from Clemson University Research I am interested in exploring, harnessing, and expanding the metabolic repertoire of the human microbiota. LinkedIn
Kevin Yin
kyyin@lbl.gov Education Microbiology PhD student in UC Berkeley Plant and Microbial Biology department B.S. in Microbiology from UCLA Research I am interested in harnessing microbes’ diverse metabolic capabilities to address environmental challenges. Approaches I’m particularly interested in using to achieve this include genome mining and polyketide synthase engineering. LinkedIn Twitter
Matthew Incha
incha@lbl.gov Education Graduate student in Plant and Microbiology at UC-Berkeley B.S. in Molecular Biology from University of Wisconsin – Madison Research I’m interested in developing high-throughput screens for biosynthetic pathways and creating methods of interrogating intracellular metabolic fluxes. Using functional genomics I would also like to identify new enzymes and proteins that can be applied […]
Sam Crowe
scrowe@lbl.gov Education PhD Student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley BS/MS in Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University Research I’m a PhD student in UC Berkeley’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. I’m interested in the concerted effort of current experimental methods, high throughput robotics, and machine learning for smarter modular enzyme engineering for production of novel […]
Alberto Nava
aanava@lbl.gov Education PhD student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley BS of Mathematics and Chemical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno Research I’m interested in developing high-throughput computational and experimental techniques for the de novo design of enzymes.
Jessica Mahinthakumar
jessicamahinthakumar@berkeley.edu Education B.S. Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University Research Synthetic biology and yeast engineering for the production of drugs, specifically engineering of the meroterpenoid biosynthetic pathway.
Yuzhong Liu
lyuzhong@berkeley.edu Education PhD Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley BS Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Research Coming from a chemistry background, I would like to synthesize biomolecules that are difficult to make by means of traditional chemical synthesis, as well as to understand the enzymatic pathways at a molecular level. I am also interested in […]
Michael Cronce
Education B.S. in Biology, UNC Chapel Hill Research I am a student in the UCSF- UC Berkeley Graduate Program in Bioengineering. My general research interests include mechanisms of infectious disease, metabolic engineering, and therapeutic R&D. Access to proper nutrition and consistent medical treatment presents a substantial challenge in developing countries. Living therapeutics, such as engineered […]
Michael Belcher
Education: BS in Botany with a focus in genetics and molecular biology and Summa Cum Laude honors; Oregon State University Background & Research Interests I am a graduate student in the Plant and Microbial Biology Department at UC Berkeley, pursuing my PhD in Plant Biology. My main interests are in the field of synthetic biology, and […]
Luis Enrique Valencia
luisvalencia@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley/ UC San Francisco B.S. in Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin Research Summary I am a PhD student in the UCSF/UC Berkeley Bioengineering graduate program. I am fascinated by the chemistry observed in nature’s enzymes. My research aims to better understand how we can engineer enzymes to […]
Robert Haushalter
rwhaushalter@lbl.gov Research My research in the Keasling Lab focuses on developing new biochemical pathways for producing commodity chemicals from renewable sugars by engineering microbes. I specialize in using fatty acid and polyketide synthase enzymes to produce new compounds and drop-in replacements for currently-used products.
Jing Huang
JingHuang@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. in Biology, Tsinghua University B.S. in Biotechnology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology Research My primary goal is to express and assemble engineered biocatalysts inside cells and use them to synthesize unnatural products. In addition, I am also interested in the development of transcription factor based biosensors.