Metabolic Engineering Laboratory

The focus of the Metabolic Engineering Laboratory is to engineer microbes to produce advanced biofuels (e.g., bio-butanol, hydrogen, alkanediols, etc.) from cheap, renewable, and highly abundant substrates such as plant-derived cellulose. We also have interests in producing value-added chemicals and are currently working on strategies to over-produce valuable amino acids using Escherichia coli K12. Our future directions include engineering microbes to sequester atmospheric CO2 and manipulate the photosynthetic process to result in the production of liquid biofuels. Our technologies will also allow us to engineer metabolic pathways to remediate toxic compounds and cure infectious diseases.

Laboratory Equipment

• Bactron IV anaerobic chamber (Sheldon Laboratories) with 600 plate capacity
• BioTek Synergy H4 Microplate Reader with incubating capabilities and monochromator and filter-based detection of absorbance, chemiluminescence, and fluorescence
• Advanced Analytical Fragment Analyzer CE system
• HPLC (Shimadzu) with a cooled-sample auto-injector, gradient capabilities,
• column oven, and RI and UV/vis detection capabilities
• Bruker Senterra dispersive Raman microscope, equipped with 532 nm and 785 nm lasers
• 2- Agiltron PeakSeeker Raman 785 nm spectrometers, 1 Raman microscope
• 2- Class II biosafety cabinets (Labconco A2)
• 2- Static/shaking incubators (Thermo MaxQ4000)
• Refrigerator, –20 °C, -35 °C and -80 °C freezers
• DNA/protein electrophoresis and blotting equipment
• Labconco CentriVap centrifugal concentrator with vacuum pump and cold trap
• Eppendorf BioPhotometer Plus and a Thermo Scientific Nanodrop 2000
• Biorad Gene Pulser Xcell electroporation unit with a Biorad ShockPod shocking chamber
• Eppendorf 5804R benchtop centrifuge and an Eppendorf 5424 microcentrifuge
• General media and buffer preparation equipment (balance and analytical
• balance, glassware, chemicals, media components, ultrapure water system, pH meter, sterile filters)
• 3- sets of Eppendorf micropipettors, vortex, gas regulators, 2 water baths, oven, hot plate stirrers, and multiple balances
• Multiple restriction endonucleases, cloning kits, molecular biology supplies and reagents
• VWR floor model 1575 incubator
• Barnstead EASYPure RoDI type I water purification system
• Eppendorf PCR Mastercycler gradient
• Genesys 10 Bio spectrophotometer
• Molecular biology plasmids, enzymes, and kits
• Equipment to be purchased: HPLC, GC, FTIR

Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2) Laboratory

• Biological safety cabinet (Labconco)
• Water-jacketed incubator (ThermoFisher)
• Refrigerator/Freezer
• Sink/eyewash/shower, pressure regulation, controlled access, sterilization utilities
• Cell culturing and Raman spectroscopy supplies

Other Resources

Access to shared facilities including:

• Fluorescent/luminescent microplate reader (BioTek Synergy H1)
• UV/vis microplate reader (BioTek Epoch 3)
• Fume hood (Supreme Air LV, Kewaunee Scientific Corporation)
• GC-MS and HPLC (Shimadzu)
• Confocal microscope (Nikon Eclipse Ti)
• Tabletop refrigerated bucket centrifuges (Eppendorf and Thermo)
• Freeze drier (Labconco)
• Centrifugal evaporator (Labconco)
• Cell disruptor (MP homogenizer)
• High speed centrifuges (Beckman Coulter, Avanti JXN-26)
• Autoclaves (3)
• Glassware washer
• Ice-maker machine
• Walk-in coolers (4°C)

Principal Investigator