报告题目：A new biotechnology paradigm shift – in vitro synthetic biology
报 告 人：Y-H Percival Zhang, Ph. D.
报告时间：2011年9月10日下午2点
报告地点：生物药学楼3号楼403
组织单位：钟建江实验室
6165cc金沙总站
报告摘要：
The production of biofuels from renewable sugars isolated from plants or produced through artificial photosynthesis would provide a sustainable alternative for decreasing reliance on crude oil, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, creating biomanufacturing jobs, and enhancing national energy security.   Since sugar costs usually account for at least 50% of biofuels’ selling prices, it is vital to produce desired biofuels with high product yields and at low production costs. However, it could be challenging to produce most advanced biofuels through microbial cell factories.   Here we suggest ultra-high-product yield and potentially low-cost biofuels production through cascade enzyme factories that can implement complicated biochemical reactions through in vitro assembly of stable enzymes and (biomimetic) coenzymes, called synthetic pathway biotransformation (SyPaB).  Great potential markets, include biodegradable sugar batteries, jet fuel, hydrogen, sugar hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, high-density electricity storage, and high efficiency production of starch, are motivating to solve remaining technical obstacles by using available technologies, such as protein engineering, enzyme immobilization, unit operations and system integration, etc.  The in vitro assembly of numerous enhanced performance and stable enzymes in one bioreactor that can last a very long reaction time (e.g., several months) would be an out-of-the-box solution for high-yield and ultra-low-cost biofuels production.  Also, the USA would have enough biomass resources (i.e., ~one billion ton per year) to replace all transportation fuel needs.
报告人简介：
张以恒 (Y-H Percival Zhang) 是弗吉尼亚理工大学终身职位副教授。他生于中国武汉，获得上海华东理工大学本科和硕士学位。他师从生物能源研究先驱Lee.R.Lynd教授，在2002年于达特茅斯学院获得化学工程博士学位，自2005年起于弗吉尼亚理工大学任助理教授。目前科研着重于纤维素溶液为基础的木质纤维素拆分，工程化纤维素酶，和体外合成生物学:合成酶途径工程生产能源(例如:酒精、氢气、电)。他申请了十几个专利，其中五个许可证已销售给三个生物能源公司。他发表了八十多篇文章，获得包括Powe青年教授提高奖(2006)，美国空军青年研究人员奖(2007)，杜邦青年教授(2008)，英国石油青年科学家(IBS2008)，弗吉尼亚理工大学年轻助理教授奖(2008)，Daniel IC Wang 奖(2009)在内的多个奖项，其研究进展受到广泛报道，包括：技术评论、新科学家、英国经济学家、科学新闻、美国商业周刊、美国国家公众广播、德国明镜周刊、美国化学会、英国皇家学会，等等。其科研主要由美国能源部生物能源中心、美国空军科研办、美国农业部、美国国防部、美国化学会、杜邦公司、壳牌石油等支持。