Research Interests

Our laboratory is interested in understanding physiology of industrial fermentation from molecular level and improving the performance of industrial microorganisms using systems biotechnology approach.

In our laboratory, lactic acid bacteria and extremophiles with acid-, alkali-, and solvent-tolerance will be selected as research models. Insights into the molecular basis and the regulatory mechanism for the production of bulk chemicals by these microorganisms will be gained using genomics tool. By integrating the data generated from genomics, novel metabolic engineering strategies will be developed to improve the functionality of industrial microorganisms.

We are also interested in developing novel methodology to support the development of systems biotechnology. This includes high-throughput screening method for obtaining desired microorganisms with industrial potential for producing bio-based chemicals; novel genetic tools for prokaryotes and genome-wide random mutagenesis strategy; methodology for integrating data generated from genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and fluxome studies; and development of genome-scale metabolic models by which the biological behavior of microorganisms can be predicted and simulated.