Welcome to the Synthetic Biology & Intelligent Control (SBIC) Laboratory at Technion-Guangdong, Israel Institute of Technology
The Xu lab is interested in developing biological solutions to solve challenges in health, environment and energy. The research group dedicate themselves to engineering the chemistry (the mass flow) and the information flow inside cells to reprogram cellular functions. Specific research topic is focused on the metabolic cost, evolutionary stability and ecological interactions of cells at genetic, biochemical and multi-species scale, with the goal to engineer robust microbial cell factories for production of life-saving drugs, green chemicals and advanced materials. We also harness cellular regulation and bio-intelligent feedback control to construct genetic/metabolic circuits that encode decision-making functions to perform bio-computing, achieve autonomous gene expression and reshape cell fate for diverse biotechnological and regenerative medicine applications.
Dr. Xu shares the philosophy of being an educator and mentor with many other scientific innovators. Here is the testimony: "Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives. While a single kernel of seed may await soil and rainfall to sprout, a bunch of seeds will endure winter and bring to us hope, light and spring".
Dr. Xu shares the philosophy of being an educator and mentor with many other scientific innovators. Here is the testimony: "Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives. While a single kernel of seed may await soil and rainfall to sprout, a bunch of seeds will endure winter and bring to us hope, light and spring".
News
8/23/2021, Postdoc research associate position is available in the Xu lab (here is the position description).
8/6/2021, YaliBio (雅礼生物科技) goes live now (https://www.yalibio.com/). We partner with our investors and strive to solve sustainability and health challenges with biology and engineering. 36Kr News covered our YaliBio story (https://www.36kr.com/p/1349651025045248).
7/8/2021, 2021 Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award introductory slides prepared for the BEJ editorial board (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPrNRr_aNcI)
5/6/2021, Dr. Xu was selected to receive the "2021 Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award". This award recognizes outstanding excellence in research and practice contributed to the field of biochemical engineering by a young community member.
4/2021, Dr. Xu joined the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Israel Institute of Technology, Technion-Guangdong. This is a Technion campus in China. Dr. Xu will start as an associate professor to lead an independent research group.
2/2021, Dr. Xu was invited to join the editorial board for Current Opinion in Biotechnology, which is the leading journal to publish short review articles in Biotechnology (IF = 8.3). Dr. Xu also served in the editorial board for Metabolic Engineering (IF = 7.3) since 2018.
10/2020, Xu lab is invited to write a commentary article on Nature Chemical Biology on the topic "Synthetic yeast brews neuroactive compounds", here is the article link and the PDF
09/2020, Dr. Xu served as the section editor for Current Opinion in Biotechnology Volume 66 "Tissue, Cell and Pathway Engineering" and "Analytical Biotechnology" 2021. Link
09/2020, Xu lab research articles were highlighted by the journal Biotechnology & Bioengineering. News link.
08/2020, ACS virtual meeting features the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Daniel IC Wang Award lecture on YouTube, presented by Dr. Xu, here is the YouTube link www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-buyaH9cd0
08/2020, Dr. Xu left UMBC in summer 2020.
07/2020, Our recent work was published on Metabolic Engineering (pub1, pub2), Current Opinion in Biotechnology (pub1, pub2), ACS Synthetic Biology (pub1, pub2), Trends in Biotechnology (pub) and Bioresource Technology (pub).
4/24/2020, Dr. Xu's talk was featured at YouTube as the McGill University Bioengineering seminar series. Here is the YouTube link www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWwmLVFyieM
12/2019, Dr. Xu was selected to receive the 2020 Biotechnology & Bioengineering Daniel I.C. Wang Award! News link
11/2019, The editors of Biotechnology & Bioengineering and Metabolic Engineering Communications kindly accepted our recent work on kinetic modeling and CRISPR-Cpf1 genome-editing.
10/2019, Our recent work is published on Metabolic Engineering and ACS Synthetic Biology. It is about polyketides synthesis in oleaginous yeast.
3/18/2019, Welcome Jingbo Ma joins our lab as a visiting scholar.
2/8/2019, Welcome Yingjia, Yang and Rahul join the lab!
2/8/2019, Our recent work is published on ACS Synthetic Biology, Biochemical engineering Journal and Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.
4/7/2018, Xu lab represents AIChE at the USA Science and Engineering Festival to attract middle school kids on STEM education. View photos from the festival.
2/23/2018, Dr. Xu joined with other scientists to serve on the editorial board for Metabolic Engineering.
2/23/2018, Xu lab is supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work on natural product biosynthesis.
8/6/2021, YaliBio (雅礼生物科技) goes live now (https://www.yalibio.com/). We partner with our investors and strive to solve sustainability and health challenges with biology and engineering. 36Kr News covered our YaliBio story (https://www.36kr.com/p/1349651025045248).
7/8/2021, 2021 Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award introductory slides prepared for the BEJ editorial board (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPrNRr_aNcI)
5/6/2021, Dr. Xu was selected to receive the "2021 Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award". This award recognizes outstanding excellence in research and practice contributed to the field of biochemical engineering by a young community member.
4/2021, Dr. Xu joined the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Israel Institute of Technology, Technion-Guangdong. This is a Technion campus in China. Dr. Xu will start as an associate professor to lead an independent research group.
2/2021, Dr. Xu was invited to join the editorial board for Current Opinion in Biotechnology, which is the leading journal to publish short review articles in Biotechnology (IF = 8.3). Dr. Xu also served in the editorial board for Metabolic Engineering (IF = 7.3) since 2018.
10/2020, Xu lab is invited to write a commentary article on Nature Chemical Biology on the topic "Synthetic yeast brews neuroactive compounds", here is the article link and the PDF
09/2020, Dr. Xu served as the section editor for Current Opinion in Biotechnology Volume 66 "Tissue, Cell and Pathway Engineering" and "Analytical Biotechnology" 2021. Link
09/2020, Xu lab research articles were highlighted by the journal Biotechnology & Bioengineering. News link.
08/2020, ACS virtual meeting features the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Daniel IC Wang Award lecture on YouTube, presented by Dr. Xu, here is the YouTube link www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-buyaH9cd0
08/2020, Dr. Xu left UMBC in summer 2020.
07/2020, Our recent work was published on Metabolic Engineering (pub1, pub2), Current Opinion in Biotechnology (pub1, pub2), ACS Synthetic Biology (pub1, pub2), Trends in Biotechnology (pub) and Bioresource Technology (pub).
4/24/2020, Dr. Xu's talk was featured at YouTube as the McGill University Bioengineering seminar series. Here is the YouTube link www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWwmLVFyieM
12/2019, Dr. Xu was selected to receive the 2020 Biotechnology & Bioengineering Daniel I.C. Wang Award! News link
11/2019, The editors of Biotechnology & Bioengineering and Metabolic Engineering Communications kindly accepted our recent work on kinetic modeling and CRISPR-Cpf1 genome-editing.
10/2019, Our recent work is published on Metabolic Engineering and ACS Synthetic Biology. It is about polyketides synthesis in oleaginous yeast.
3/18/2019, Welcome Jingbo Ma joins our lab as a visiting scholar.
2/8/2019, Welcome Yingjia, Yang and Rahul join the lab!
2/8/2019, Our recent work is published on ACS Synthetic Biology, Biochemical engineering Journal and Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.
4/7/2018, Xu lab represents AIChE at the USA Science and Engineering Festival to attract middle school kids on STEM education. View photos from the festival.
2/23/2018, Dr. Xu joined with other scientists to serve on the editorial board for Metabolic Engineering.
2/23/2018, Xu lab is supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work on natural product biosynthesis.