Research in the Zhao group is focused on protein engineering and metabolic engineering. The overall research theme is to use directed evolution in combination with rational design to create proteins, receptors, biosynthetic pathways, and whole cells with improved or novel functions, followed by detailed biochemical and biophysical characterizations.
"There are dozens of ongoing projects in the lab that can be generally grouped into four different areas: industrial biotechnology and bioenergy, drug discovery and development, synthetic biology and gene therapy, and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) engineering and immunotherapy," Zhao explained. "Although the following projects are all application-driven, we are also very interested in addressing fundamental questions related to protein structure-function relationship, enzyme catalysis, molecular recognition, gene regulation, and immunology."
Zhao earned his BS in biology from the University of Science and Technology of China, and his PhD in chemistry California Institute of Technology. After working as a project leader in industrial biotechnology for The Dow Chemical Company, he joined the Illinois faculty in 2000. In addition to his position in ChemBE, Zhao holds faculty appointments at the Institute for Genomic Biology, and as an affiliate in bioengineering, biochemistry, as well as the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology and the Biotechnology Center.
Election as a Fellow is an honor bestoed upon AAAS members by their peers. As one of six University of Illinois facutly so honored this year, Zhao will be invested as a 2010 Fellow of the AAAS at their annual meeting in February.
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Contact: Huimin Zhao, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 217/333-2631.
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