Current Team
Principal Investigator
Radhakrishnan (Krishna) Mahadevan
Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Metabolic Systems Engineering
&
Professor of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Madras, India
Ph.D., University of Delaware, USA
Email
krishna(DOT)mahadevan(AT)utoronto(DOT)ca
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Alessandra Biz
Research Associate
B.Eng., Universidade Federal do Parana - Curitiba, Brazil
M.Sc., Universidade Federal do Parana - Curitiba, Brazil
D.Sc., Universidade Federal do Parana - Curitiba, Brazil
Alessandra's work involves the engineering of yeast to produce adipic acid. She is particularly interested in using metabolic flux analyses to rewire yeast metabolism to produce adipic acid, and in using CRISPR tools to engineer non-conventional yeasts.
Email
alessandra(DOT)biz(AT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Jinjin Chen
Research Associate
M.Sc., Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
D.Eng., Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Jinjin primarily works on developing a gene editing method for Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. She also works on the metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli to produce bioproducts.
Email
jinjin(DOT)chen(AT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Sagar Lahiri
Research Associate
M.Sc., Calcutta University, Kolkata, India
Ph.D.., CSIR-IICB, Kolkata, India
Sagar works on improving adipic acid production in yeast using molecular biology and protein engineering tools. In the past, he has studied yeast cellular traffic and protein quality control.
Email
sagar(DOT)lahiri(AT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Yilan Liu
Research Associate
M.Sc., Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
D.Eng., Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Yilan's research involves the metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli to produce bioproducts. She particularly focuses on using CRISPR, self-developed TRAGE tools and metabolic flux analyses to engineer E. coli to produce alkanes and alcohols.
Email
liu(DOT)yilan(AT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Olivia Bulka
M.A.Sc. Student
B.Sc. (Hons), University of British Columbia
Olivia’s research involves the analysis and engineering of microbial communities to degrade chlorinated groundwater contaminants. Her research interests include synthetic biology and bioremediation.
Email
olivia(DOT)bulka(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Ruhi Choudhary
Ph.D. Student
B.A.Sc., University of Toronto
Ruhi works on engineering probiotic strains for the production of therapeutic molecules to help treat diseases such as Crohn's Disease. Her research interests include synthetic biology, gut microbiome engineering, metabolic engineering and analytical chemistry.
Email ruhi(DOT)choudhary(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Patrick Diep
Ph.D. Student
B.Sc., University of Waterloo
Patrick studies nickel binding proteins from soil and pathogenic bacteria to explore their potential applications as nickel capture/storage systems in biomining. His research interests include synthetic biology and environmental remediation.
Email patrick(DOT)diep(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Christian Euler
Ph.D. Student
B.A.Sc., University of Ottawa
B.Sc. (Hons), University of Ottawa
Christian works to understand regulatory mechanisms of metabolism at hierarchical and metabolic levels, and how these mechanisms interact. He uses protein engineering and optogenetic tools to create models of these control systems. His research interests include protein engineering, synthetic biology and modeling gene regulatory networks.
Email christian(DOT)euler(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Mauricio Garcia Benitez
Ph.D. Student
B.Sc., UANL - Mexico
M.Sc., UNAM - Mexico City, Mexico
Mauricio works on developing a data-driven framework based on machine learning to integrate genome scale metabolic models with the design of genetic circuits for adipic acid production.
Email
mauricio(DOT)garciabenitez
(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Dafni Giannari
Ph.D. Student
Diploma (M.S.), University of Patras - Greece
Dafni works on developing algorithms to model microbial communities.
Email
dafni(DOT)giannari(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Kiana Haddadi
Ph.D. Student
B.Sc., Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
M.Sc., Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
Kiana works on kinetic parameterization to better understand regulatory mechanisms in cells. She uses kinetic modeling to parameterize shifts in metabolic fluxes that assist cells to adapt to changes in environmental conditions.
Email
kiana(DOT)haddadi(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Kaushik Raj
Ph.D. Student
B.E. (Hons), BITS - Pilani, India
Kaushik works on developing and using computational models of metabolism and gene regulation to identify strategies and build genetic tools for dynamic metabolic pathway engineering. He has also worked on the engineering of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to produce adipic acid. His research interests include synthetic biology, data science, metabolic engineering and systems biology.
Email kaushik(DOT)venkatesan(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Kavya Siddartha
Ph.D. Student
B.S., University of California - Berkeley, USA
Kavya primarily works on metabolic engineering of microbes for sustainable and scalable chemical production. Her focus has been designing modular biosynthetic pathways and modular host engineering. Her research interests include metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and industrial biotechnology.
Email
kavya(DOT)siddartha(AT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Alexandre Tremblay
Ph.D. Student
B.Sc., Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières M.Sc.., McGill University
Alexandre works on modeling and engineering microorganisms to build communities that produce renewable chemicals. His research interests includes microbial ecology and synthetic biology.
Email alexandre(DOT)tremblay(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Marc-Antoine Turcotte
Ph.D. Student
B.Sc., Université de Sherbrooke M.Sc., Université de Sherbrooke
Marc-Antoine works on metabolic engineering of microbes for chemical production. His research interests include biochemistry, synthetic biology and protein engineering.
Email ma(DOT)turcotte(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca
Zhiqing(Paul) Xu
Ph.D. Student
B.A.Sc., University of Toronto
M.A.Sc., University of Toronto
Zhiqing (Paul) works on biochemical pathway prediction based on probabilistic and machine learning methods. He develops new algorithms to improve the efficiency of designing synthetic pathways for biological production of non-natural chemicals.
Email
zhiqing(DOT)xu(AT)mail(DOT)utoronto(DOT)ca