Time：Monday 9:30 AM, August 17, 2015
Location：Conference room in Biotechnology Building
Speaker：Professor Xueli ZHANG
Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Abstract: It has been well-recognized as a green and sustainable approach to produce bulk chemicals and valuable natural products from renewable feedstocks by microbial cell factories. To construct such cell factories, model microbes such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae are used as hosts, their metabolic pathways redesigned, and their production traits optimized systematically. We recently engineered E. coli strains that could efficiently produce succinate, D-lactate, L-alanine, isobutanol, carotenoids or ginsenosides. In particular, we succeed in commercial-scale production of succinate, D-lactate and L-alanine. I will share our experiences and efforts with the audiences.
About the Speaker: Professor Xueli Zhang obtained PhD from Shanghai JiaoTong University (2005) and did postdoctoral research at University of Florida, USA (2005-2009). He joined Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010. He was supported by CAS “100-Talent Program” and a number of other resources. Prof. Zhang’s group are devoted to constructing microbial cell factories for the production of bulk chemicals, value-added natural products and amino acids through synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. Recently, the Zhang group successfully engineered Escherichia coli strains for the production of succinate, D-lactate, L-alanine, carotenoids and several important natural products from Chinese medicinal herb. He has published over 30 papers on prestigious journals including PNAS and Metabolic Engineering. He filed about 10 Chinese patents and a number of PCT patents.
Contact: Prof. Zongbao K. Zhao