Project Description

With concern over the environmental impact of fossil fuel emissions, the push to develop biomass derived fuels has increased significantly. Most global carbon dioxide fixation occurs via the Calvin Benson Bassham cycle. The fastest and highest thermodynamic efficiency organisms to fix CO2 are single celled aquatic organisms. We propose to study the influence of variations in light intensity on intracellular metabolic fluxes. This work will combine -omics approaches to discern changes in the proteome in response to light intensity in cyanobacteria, algae as well as diatoms. Mathematical modeling efforts will incorporate genome scale flux balance analysis (FBA). 13C metabolic flux analysis will be used to validate the predictions from the FBA models. The data and modeling will be utilized to design strains to produce biofuel precursors such as fatty acids and aromatics. 

Start Date

January 2025

Post Doc Qualifications

Ph.D. in Chemical or Biological Engineering or Microbiology or Plant Sciences
Experience in experimental and data analyses of one or more of the following: metabolomics, genomics, proteomics. Genetic cloning and transformation of microbes.
Experience with metabolic models or flux balance analysis.  

Co-Advisors

John A. Morgan, jamorgan@purdue.edu, Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
Sujith Puthiyaveetil, spveetil@purdue.edu, Department of Biochemistry 

Bibliography

1. Shastri, Avantika A; Morgan, John A; Flux balance analysis of photoautotrophic metabolism Biotechnology progress 21 1617-1626 (2005)
2. Boyle, Nanette R; Morgan, JA; Flux balance analysis of primary metabolism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. BMC systems biology, 3. (2009)
3. Young, J D; Shastri, Avantika A; Stephanopoulos, G; Morgan, J A; Mapping photoautotrophic metabolism with isotopically nonstationary 13C flux analysis Metabolic engineering 13 6 656-665 (2011)
4. Xiong, W; Morgan, J A; Ungerer, J; Wang, B; Maness, Pin-Ching; Yu, Jianping; The plasticity of cyanobacterial metabolism supports direct CO2 conversion to ethylene. Nature Plants 1, 5. (2015)