이화여자대학교 생물화공연구실

▶ Development of an improved microbial strain system using metabolic engineering

▶ Development of microbial fermentation technology

▶ Development of strains and optimization of fermentation for efficient utilization of

carbon sources derived from biomass

▶ Biological and/or chemical conversion of the target product produced on a

biological basis

▶ Purification of target products produced through fermentation

Research Field

We are interested in developing an improved microbial system using metabolic engineering and optimizing fermentation for efficient utilization of carbon sources derived from biomass. According to a recent report, most plastics produced using petroleum-based chemical processes can contribute to other environmental problems, including climate change.

Life cycle of Petroleum-based plastics and biopolymers

To address these plastic-related issues, we explore Metabolic Engineering, which is the practice of optimizing genetic and regulatory processes within cells to increase the cells' production of a certain substance. Recent advances in microbial strain development based on traditional metabolic engineering combined with the technologies of synthetic biology, system biology, and evolutionary engineering, collectively termed “systems metabolic engineering”, have enhanced the efficiency of biorefineries in terms of both time and costs. Systems metabolic engineering has to date been successfully applied to support the development of several microorganisms, including Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and Cupriavidus necator (previously known as Alcaligenes eutrophus followed by Ralstonia eutropha), that are utilized as platform microbial cell factories.

PHAs

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been developed to replace petroleum-based plastics. PHAs are biodegradable natural polyesters produced by numerous microorganisms. Given that these polymers possess physical and thermochemical material properties comparable to those of petroleum based plastics, they have been actively studied as promising materials for solving issues related to the currently used plastics.

Engineering strategies for the production of PHAs and non-natural microbial polyesters from various renewable feedstocks

PLA

PLA is the second most produced biodegradable plastic (approx. 200 kT in 2018) and is generally used for food packaging, containers, bottles and 3D printing filament (European bioplastics; also, it has gained increasing attention on account of their considerable potentials for biomedical applications, as their material properties are suitable for drug delivery carriers and bioresorbable tissue scaffolds used in regenerative medicine.

Metabolic pathways for the production of various non-natural polyesters

GABA

Gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid that is currently used in the food and pharmaceutical industry as the main component of anti-anxiety drugs, diuretics, and analgesics. Also, recent application of GABA as a building block chemical in the chemical industry is found in the production of 2-pyrrolidone and nylon 4. Thus, we directly produced GABA from carbon sources such as glucose by fermentation of engineered glutamate-overproducing strains expressing GAD , which is practical and cost-effective in a location where biomass-derived sugars are abundant and cheap.

2,3 BDO

2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BDO), also known as 2,3-butylene glycol, is a promising bulk platform chemical, which has been applied in areas such as plastics, cosmetics, and pharmaceutics, since it can be used as an important precursor for further synthesis of valuable chemicals. Since there are several natural microorganisms that are able to produce 2,3-BDO, the production of 2,3-BDO by employing these microbial cell factories has extensively been examined for cost-effective process development.

Besides, we are trying to make promising products to address global environmental issues, including abnormal climate change, global warming, and plastic waste accumulation, all of which can be attributed to human activities.

Research Interests