11/03/2025
By Zhiyong Gu
Date: Thursday, November 6
Time: 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.
Location: Shah Hall, Room 303
Abstract: The use of microbial systems for synthetic purposes holds significant promise in the realm of green manufacturing. However, in order to fully unleash the potential of these systems, it is imperative to broaden the range of products that can be synthesized and improve the efficiency of biosynthesis. Achieving these goals necessitates concerted efforts in two areas: constructing synthetic pathways for compounds that are beyond the scope of natural hosts and developing overproducing strains. These efforts require the identification of new enzymes or the creation of novel enzymatic activities that can function in non-natural pathways, as well as the reprogramming of cellular metabolism and regulation to better support biosynthetic activities. In this seminar, we will present a selection of projects that showcase our understanding and experience in these fields, including: 1) repurposing enzymes to enable microbial synthesis of diverse specialty chemicals, and 2) establishing modifiable carbon metabolism coordination and regulation to promote carbon-efficient production.
Biography: Professor Yajun Yan received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Biochemical Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 1999 and 2002 respectively. He then obtained his doctorate in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2008. From 2008 to 2010, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. Since 2010, he has been a faculty member at the University of Georgia, where he was promoted to tenured Associate Professor in 2015 and to full Professor in 2019.
Professor Yajun Yan has a broad academic background in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Over the past 20 years, his research has focused mainly on Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering. He is dedicated to developing microbial and enzymatic methods for efficient production of biofuels, bulk and fine chemicals, natural products, and drug-active molecules. His research projects cover multiple disciplines, including Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Protein Engineering, Metabolic Engineering, and the principles and techniques of Synthetic Biology.
To date, Professor Yajun Yan has published over 130 academic papers in prestigious journals in his field, such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, PNAS, Trends in Biotechnology, Biotechnology Advances, Metabolic Engineering, Green Chemistry, ACS Synthetic Biology, etc. He has also co-authored three academic books and holds 17 patents in multiple countries including the U.S., China, and Canada.