Our research efforts are aimed at developing innovative solutions to address pressing environmental and health issues such as removing emerging contaminants, recovering critical resources, promoting sustainable biomanufacturing, and combating antimicrobial resistance.​

Our core competencies, including applied and environmental microbiology, microbial bioengineering, synthetic biology, and biofilm and microbiome engineering, position us to advance innovative solutions at the interface of engineering and microbiology.

​Our ongoing research themes include 

(1) Bioengineering Solutions to Sustainability and Health: Our research team has always been fascinated by the capabilities of microbial systems. We have been exploring applications of microbial bioengineering to address sustainability issues. One example is engineered biofilms for resource recovery (e.g., metals from spent batteries and P from low-P water streams) and contaminant removal (e.g., As from groundwater). We have engineered a matrix-associated protein in bacterial biofilms to convert the polymeric matrix into a highly specific adsorptive biomaterials with a high affinity. In another example, we have engineered the microbially induced biomineralization process, which can be used to produce materials for geotechnical and construction applications.

(2) Engineering Controllable Microbial Systems: Using molecular and synthetic biology techniques, our research team developed biofilms that can be controlled by near-infrared and blue light, enabling regulation of its growth and dispersal, respectively. We have applied this light-controllable biofilm to mitigate membrane biofouling (Sci. Adv. 2018, 4: eaau1459). This was one of the first studies on optogenetic control of biofilm dynamics, marking a significant breakthrough with the potential to harness light for "guiding" microbial bioprocesses in various biotechnological applications. For instance, by combining optogenetic control with synthetic chemical synthesis pathways, we demonstrated the use of light-controlled biofilms as efficient biocatalysts for chemical synthesis (ChemSusChem 2019, 12: 5142-5148). To improve sensitivity of the engineered biofilms to light, our team employed a three-step directed evolution strategy, which included error-prone PCR, in vitro homologous recombination, and site-directed mutagenesis, to engineer a highly active photosensitive c-di-GMP synthase, BphS-13. Compared to the original enzyme, BphS-13 contains 13 mutations, resulting in approximately 13 times greater activity and tight regulation in response to near-infrared light, with minimal leakage in the dark.

(3) Nature-inspired Microbial Bioengineering Solutions: One latest example is that our team has developed "artificial worm gut" to mine for plastic-degradation enzymes (Environ. Int. 2024, 183: 108349). Gut microbial communities of plastic-munching worms provide novel insights for the development of plastic-processing biotechnologies. Considering the complexity of worm maintenance and the gut microbial communities, it is challenging to apply the worms directly in plastic processing. Our team established stable and reproducible plastic-associated biofilm communities derived from the gut microbiome of a superworm, Zophobas atratus, through a two-stage enrichment process: feeding with plastics and in vitro incubation of gut microbiomes from the plastic-fed worms. The findings provide novel insights into plastic-munching-worm-inspired bioprocessing of plastic wastes, contributing to address the challenge of plastic waste management. 

(4) Understanding and Engineering Microbial Interactions: For both natural and synthetic communities, microbial interactions play a crucial role in shaping community structures and functions. Our research team has explored microbial interactions in biofilm communities on marine plastic debris and unraveled complex interactions in the communities (Environ. Int. 2024, 190: 108901). Engineering microbial interactions through reducing interactions negatively impacting specific functions and enhancing those reinforce them provides a promising bioengineering solution to designing microbial processes for sustainability and health applications.