Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology · Energy
Professor Yong Keun Chang's research lab specializes in microbial biotechnology and synthetic biology, focusing on the metabolic engineering of microalgae and bacteria for sustainable production of biofuels, bioplastics, and high-value chemicals. The lab develops advanced bioprocesses using engineered microorganisms—such as *Nannochloropsis* species and *Nocardia*/*Gordonia* strains—to enhance lactic acid and lipid production, as well as to enable efficient biodesulfurization of fossil fuels. A key emphasis is placed on optimizing bioreactor systems, including membrane cell-recycle and immobilized cell reactors, to achieve high productivity and stability. The lab also contributes to systems biology through the development of comprehensive omics databases like NanDeSyn for functional genomics and strain improvement.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
It is important to produce L(+)-lactic acid at the lowest cost possible for lactic acid to become a candidate monomer material for promising biodegradable polylactic acid. In an effort to develop a high-rate bioreactor that provides high productivity along with a high concentration of lactic acid, the performance of membrane cell-recycle bioreactor (MCRB) was investigated via experimental studies and simulation optimization. Due to greatly increased cell density, high lactic acid productivity, 2
Microalgae are considered as excellent platforms for biomaterial production that can replace conventional fossil fuel-based fuels and chemicals. Genetic engineering of microalgae is prerequisite to maximize production of materials and to reduce costs for the production. Transcription factors (TFs) are emerging as key regulators of metabolic pathways to enhance production of molecules for biofuels and other materials. TFs with the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) domain have been known as stress regul
Nannochloropsis species, unicellular industrial oleaginous microalgae, are model organisms for microalgal systems and synthetic biology. To facilitate community-based annotation and mining of the rapidly accumulating functional genomics resources, we have initiated an international consortium and present a comprehensive multi-omics resource database named Nannochloropsis Design and Synthesis (NanDeSyn; http://nandesyn.single-cell.cn). Via the Tripal toolkit, it features user-friendly interfaces
A dibenzothiophene (DBT)-degrading bacterial strain was isolated from dyeing industry wastewater and identified as Nocardia sp. CYKS2. The newly isolated bacterial strain Nocardia sp. CYKS2 was able to convert DBT to 2-hydroxybiphenyl (2-HBP) as the dead-end metabolite through a sulfur-specific pathway. Other organic sulfur compounds, such as thiophene derivatives, thiazole derivatives, sulfides, and disulfides were also desulfurized by Nocardia sp. CYKS2. In batch culture, 0.2 mM DBT was comple
Desulfurizations of a model oil (hexadecane containing dibenzothiophene (DBT)) and a diesel oil by immobilized DBT-desulfurizing bacterial strains, Gordona sp. CYKS1 and Nocardia sp. CYKS2, were carried out. Celite bead was used as a biosupport for cell immobilization. Seven-eight cycles of repeated-batch desulfurization were conducted for each strain. Each batch reaction was carried out for 24 h. In the case of model oil treatment with strain CYKS1, about 4.0 mM of DBT in hexadecane (0.13 g sul
For the production of oil-desulfurizing biocatalyst, a two-stage fermentation strategy was adopted, in which the cell growth stage and desulfurization activity induction stage were separated. Sucrose was found to be the optimal carbon source for the growth of Gordonia nitida CYKS1. Magnesium sulfate was selected to be the sulfur source in the cell growth stage. The optimal ranges of sucrose and magnesium sulfate were 10-50 and 1-2.5 g x L(-1), respectively. Such a broad optimal concentration of
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