Yinjie Tang

Focus

Yeast engineering for synthesis of biopolymers and natural products; cyanobacterial engineering for CO2 capture and biomanufacturing; Machine learning to assist microbial strain design and fermentation optimizations

Research

1. Conversion of anaerobic digestion wastes into PHB and carotene by using engineered Yarrowia yeast.

2. Engineering cyanobacteria and algal species for CO2 capture, nitrogen fixation, and biofuel productions.

3. Analysis of microbial species and consortia (e.g., gut microbiome) for plastic degradation and upcycling.

4. Integrative knowledge engineering, omics analysis, and AI modeling to enhance large fermentation processes.

Biography

Professor Tang joined the School of Engineering & Applied Science faculty in 2008. His research focuses on applied environmental microbiology and bioprocess engineering. Professor Tang is serving on several Editorial Boards, namely Microbial Cell Factories, Biotechnology for Biofuel, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Scientific Reports, Synthetic Biology and Engineering, and Frontiers in Microbiology. He has received awards including NSF CAREER (2010), Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement (2010), and NSF Transition (2023). At Washington University, he has taught Process Control, Metabolic Engineering, International Experience, Fluid Mechanics, and Bioprocess Engineering. He earned a Department Chair’s Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2013.

Affiliations

• The Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC)