Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Our lab is interested in the development of new functional bio-materials (natural product, peptides, oligosaccharides, chiral compounds, functional foods), one-pot enzyme reaction to construct biorefinery or even multi-steps reaction bio system, using various cells and enzymes. We are also investigating on a large-scale production of the above in vitro or in vivo system. To solve such problems, our approaches touch upon various aspects of analysis with engineering concepts and tools (reactor control, analysis of reactive factors, separation and purification process development, activity and stability of enzymes/catalysts, quantitative analysis of metabolic pathways, omics data analysis, etc). To maximize yields and productivity of targeted substances, research on process optimization or development of new enzyme reactions/metabolic pathways are undertaken using diverse analytical methods. We often use new techniques such as in vitro evolution, protein engineering, computer modeling, bioinformatics, synthetic biology and etc., for designing novel enzymes as well as developing mutants by changing the properties of targeted enzymes. In the case of microbial metabolic pathways, we attempt to maximize yields and productivity of targeted substances through quantitative analysis of metabolism by applying metabolic engineering techniques, precise understanding of transcriptional regulatory factors, mrNa expression level analysis by dNa array, proteomics, and system biological tools.

The research of this laboratory focuses on regeneration of human tissues or organs with stem cells and tissue engineering techniques to enhance the regenerative potential of stem cells. The concepts of gene or growth factor delivery and biomaterials are applied to this approach.

Research objectives of our laboratory are the application of biotechnology and nanotechnology to microbial and animal cell systems for the production of useful biomaterials and for the development of useful bio-based systems.

All the molecular mechanisms operating inside living organisms have been optimized during evolution. In particular, proteins, an essential biological element for the survival of life, have also been optimized for their functions. These proteins, however, have never encountered nanomaterials, a well-established and flourished product of recent nanotechnology, during the evolutionary process. Fusion between proteins and nanomaterials existing at the same size-scale, therefore, could optimize/compromise their functions into novel materials with unique properties which have never been witnessed in the history of evolution. In our lab, multifunctional and multidimensional protein-based hybrid materials have been prepared by employing various nanoparticles and allosteric/self-assembly proteins capable of responding to external stimuli. Ultimately, we try to develop biocompatible nanomaterials or devices useful for monitoring and controlling human’s physiological activities by integrating and synchronizing the multifunctional protein-based binano fusion materials. Eventually, the resulting biocompatible sensing materials/devices will be applied at human machine interface not only to improve human’s sensing power but also to catch a minute change in signals of human physiology. In particular, α-synuclein (αS), an amyloidogenic protein pathologically related to Parkinson’s disease, has been employed to fabricate gold-nanoparticles (auNP) multidimensional structures by taking advantage of the unique self-assembly and surface adsorption properties of the αS-auNP conjugates.

The ultimate research goals of our lab are: 1) understanding biological systems better by elucidating complex regulatory networks with high-throughput methods; 2) expanding design methods by development of biophysical models and molecular toolboxes for efficient genome/genetic engineering; and 3) designing optimal artificial cells based on this information so that cells can dynamically respond to environmental and/or intracellular metabolite changes by various sensors in a programmable manner for biochemical and biomedical applications. In order to achieve these goals, iterative rounds of systems/synthetic biology and evolutionary approaches would be needed. First, using systems biology approaches, complex biological regulatory networks need to be elucidated in order for us to efficiently identify engineering targets. Second, several key molecular tools for synthetic biology should also be developed for efficient engineering and/or design of biological systems. With these tools, biological systems should be engineered to 1) efficiently utilize renewable biomasses and 2) specifically sense various environmental changes to produce target products. Then, the engineered systems can be further evolved to meet the required 1) ranges of sensing and actuating capacities and 2) productivity and yield of target products. We can also profile what’s going on inside the cell with genome-scale analysis and re-utilize the information for further enhancement.

The word ‘convergence’ is widely used in various research areas and the ‘converged’ researches are contributing tremendously to enhancements in our society. Our research group focus on convergence of science and engineering studies in water treatment and environment research fields. In this perspective, we focus on three topics: desalination, application of electrochemistry for water treatment, and precious metal recovery using battery technology. The research on desalination divides into capacitive deionization process and membrane process. In these processes, energy consideration is essential so that energy recovery is simultaneously pursued. The study on safe water engages electrochemical reaction for oxidant generation in order to disinfect water and this approach contains the fabrication of new electrode material. In addition, this research focuses on safe water production with the “New appropriate technology” development for the developing or underdeveloped countries. The resource recovery intends to recover valuable metals from brine, sea, or wastewater. New paradigms embracing battery technology combined with water treatment are vigorously studied in developing this technology. Overall, we aim to enhance the quality of human life with future-oriented convergence technology.

Our research focuses on understanding and redesigning cellular regulatory networks. We are interested in elucidating signal transduction pathways in cellular adaptation to various environmental stress conditions. In addition, we are applying metabolic engineering and synthetic biology tools to develop robust microbial strains for the production of chemicals and biofuels from biomass.

The overall goal of the Biomimetic Materials and Stem Cell Engineering Laboratory is to combine engineering principles and basic science with developmental biology to understand mechanisms of tissue regeneration in novel biomaterial systems. Biomaterial scaffold may provide a vehicle to differentiate stem cells by controlled exposure to proteins, adhesion peptides, and growth factors in a three-dimensional matrix. Our laboratory is currently working toward the fabrication of biosynthetic micro-environments conducive to stem cell differentiation by manipulating scaffold properties and incorporating the desired biological signals. In addition, our laboratory is developing nonviral strategies for a direct conversion stem cell technologies. In contrast to traditional viral transduction method, nonviral delivery of conversion factors has the merit of lowering immune responses and provides safer genetic manipulation, thus revolutionizing the generation of directly converted cells and its application in therapeutics.