Faculty
Costas D. Maranas
GSE Co-Principal Investigator
Donald B. Broughton Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University
Website: http://www.maranasgroup.com/
E-mail: costas@psu.edu
Dr. Maranas’s group develops and deploys computational framework informed by systems engineering and mathematical optimization to understand, analyze and redesign metabolism and proteins. Research interests include: Computational protein design; enzyme and antibody engineering; design of protein pores for bioseparations; reconstruction, curation and analysis of metabolic networks; computational strain design and synthetic biology; metabolism of photosynthetic organisms; metabolism of obligatory anaerobes; modeling of microbial communities; optimization theory and algorithms.
Joshua D. Rabinowitz
GSE Co-Principal Investigator
Professor, Department of Chemistry and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics
Princeton University
Website: https://scholar.princeton.edu/rabinowitz/home
E-mail: joshr@princeton.edu
Dr. Rabinowitz’s group aims to achieve a quantitative, comprehensive understanding of cellular metabolism. Their motivation for studying metabolism is two-fold. From a basic science perspective, the molecular connections involved in metabolism are the best understood of any major biochemical network. Accordingly, metabolism provides a unique opportunity for quantitative analysis. From a practical perspective, derangements of metabolism are a major cause of disease, and small molecules that inhibit metabolism are the basis of many important pharmaceuticals. Accordingly, systems-level analysis of metabolism is likely to yield discoveries of medical significance.
Christopher V. Rao
GSE Co-Principal Investigator
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Website: https://raogroupuiuc.github.io/webpage/
E-mail: cvrao@illinois.edu
Dr. Rao’s group studies how cells process information. His group is especially interested in understanding how decision-making processes are encoded within individual cells through feedback control. Rao group is also engineering bacteria and yeast for the production of biofuels. Specifically, their goal is to optimize the uptake and metabolism of C5/C6 sugars in bacteria by developing new genetic tools.
Martin Wühr
GSE Co-Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics
Princeton University
Website: https://scholar.princeton.edu/wuehr
E-mail: wuhr@princeton.edu
Dr. Wühr’s group aims to elucidate principles by which molecules self-organize into much larger organelles and cells. Specifically, his group studies how proteins partition between nucleus and cytoplasm and how different nuclear composition affects cellular function. To address these questions, his group develops and employs quantitative proteomics in combination with computational, biochemical and imaging approaches.
Yasuo Yoshikuni
GSE Co-Principal Investigator
Biologist Staff Scientist
DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI)
Website: https://jgi.doe.gov/our-science/scientists-jgi/synthetic-biology-pathwa…
E-mail: yyoshikuni@lbl.gov
Dr. Yoshikuni’s research focus is to discover novel secondary metabolites and to study their roles in microbial-microbial and plant-microbial communications in various environments. He is currently developing design principles, tools, and methodologies to mine and characterize novel secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways and component enzymes by leveraging on the DOE JGI’s unique resources and capabilities.
Huimin Zhao
GSE Principal Investigator
Steven L. Miller Chair Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Website: http://faculty.scs.illinois.edu/~zhaogrp/index.html
E-mail: zhao5@illinois.edu
Dr. Zhao’s laboratory develops and applies synthetic biology approaches, particularly directed evolution, to engineer functionally improved or novel proteins, pathways, and genomes. In parallel, Zhao laboratory investigates the protein structure-function relationship, cell metabolism, and mechanisms of gene expression and regulation. Zhao group’s current research program centers on four distinct yet related areas, including foundational tool development, drug discovery and development, industrial biotechnology, and mammalian synthetic biology.
Researchers
Ipek Tasan
Program Manager
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
tasan2@illinois.edu
Hoang Dinh
Graduate Student
The Pennsylvania State University, Maranas Group
hvd5034@psu.edu
Patrick Suthers
Postdoctoral Researcher
The Pennsylvania State University, Maranas Group
pfs13@psu.edu
Jack Hu
Graduate Student
The Pennsylvania State University, Maranas Group
m.jack.hu@gmail.com
Yihui Shen
Postdoctoral Researcher
Princeton University, Rabinowitz Group
yihuis@princeton.edu
Tianxia Xiao
Graduate Student
Princeton University, Rabinowitz Group
tianxiax@princeton.edu
Xi Xing
Postdoctoral Researcher
Princeton University, Rabinowitz Group
xxing@princeton.edu
Anshu Deewan
Graduate Student
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rao Group
deewan2@illinois.edu
Donovan Cassidy-Nolan
Undergraduate Student
Princeton University, Wühr Group
dlc4@princeton.edu
Meera Gupta
Graduate Student
Princeton University, Wühr Group
meerag@princeton.edu
Chirag Kumar
Undergraduate Student
Princeton University, Wühr Group
ckkumar@princeton.edu
Ping-Hung Hsieh
Postdoctoral Researcher
Joint Genome Institute, Yoshikuni Group
phhsieh@lbl.gov
Jing Ke
Engineer
Joint Genome Institute, Yoshikuni Group
jingke@lbl.gov
Yusuke Sasaki
Postdoctoral Researcher
Joint Genome Institute, Yoshikuni Group
yusukesasaki@lbl.gov
Zong-Yen Wu
Postdoctoral Researcher
Joint Genome Institute, Yoshikuni Group
zwu@lbl.gov
Zia Fatma
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Zhao Group
ziafatma@illinois.edu
Shekhar Mishra
Graduate Student
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Zhao Group
smishr10@illinois.edu
Carl Schultz
Graduate Student
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Zhao Group
jcschul2@illinois.edu
