Join Dr Huimin Zhao for another prominent lecture as part of the Department of Chemical Engineering’s popular Distinguished Seminar Series 2025.
Title:
Synthetic Biology 2.0: the Dawn of a New Era
Abstract:
Synthetic biology aims to design novel or improved biological systems using engineering principles, which has broad applications in medical, chemical, food, and agricultural industries. Thanks to rapid advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis, genome editing, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), and laboratory automation, synthetic biology has entered a new phase of exponential growth.
In this talk, Dr Zhao will highlight their recent work on the development of a self-driving biofoundry, AI/ML tools, non-model organisms, and novel enzymes for synthetic biology applications. Examples include but are not limited to: (a) BioAutomata: a self-driving biofoundry for pathway engineering and protein engineering, (b) CLEAN: an AI tool for enzyme function prediction, (c) engineered low-pH tolerant yeasts for cost-effective production of organic acids, and (d) repurposed enzymes with new-to-nature reactivity for asymmetric synthesis.
References
[1]. M. HamediRad, et al. (2019) Nature Communications, 10:5150
[2]. T. Yu, et al. (2023) Science, 379, 1358–1363
[3]. V. Tran, et al. (2023) Nature Communications, 14: 6152
[4]. X. Huang, et al. (2020) Nature, 584, 69–74
[5]. M. Li, et al. (2024) Science, 385, 416–421
Speaker biography:
Dr Huimin Zhao is the Steven L. Miller Chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering and professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Director of NSF AI Institute for Molecule Synthesis (moleculemaker.org), NSF iBioFoundry, and NSF Global Center for Reliable and Scalable Biofoundries, and Editor in Chief of ACS Synthetic Biology.
Dr Zhao received numerous research and teaching awards and honors such as AIChE Daniel I.C. Wang Award, AIChE FP&B Division Award, ECI Enzyme Engineering Award, ACS Marvin Johnson Award, SIMB Charles Thom Award, and NSF CAREER Award. His primary research interests are in the development and applications of synthetic biology, machine learning, and laboratory automation tools to address society’s most daunting challenges in health, energy, and sustainability.
To book:
This event is by calendar invite only. If you are interested in attending, please email chemeng.comms@imperial.ac.uk.
Attendance type:
In-person encouraged.