Hal Alper

Alper, Hal
Assistant Professor

E-mail: halper@che.utexas.edu

Website: http://www.che.utexas.edu/alper_group/index.html

Main Office: CPE 5.408
Phone: 512-471-4417

Mailing Address:
1 University Station
CPE 5.408
Austin, TX 78712
Research Summary:
   The goal of metabolic and cellular engineering is to endow novel and useful properties to cellular systems. Recent advances in molecular biology and genetic engineering empower metabolic engineers with an increasing ability to create any desired cellular modification. The integration of these approaches with an ever-increasing database of knowledge about these cellular systems (due in part to genomic sequencing efforts) provides an unprecedented opportunity to engineer cellular systems. Our research group focuses on the integration and implementation of these tools and knowledge for the design, production, and elicitation of phenotypes relevant to biotechnological processes and medical interest. Using a variety of host systems including microbial (eg. Escherichia coli), fungal (eg. yeast), and mammalian (eg. Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells), we seek to develop the necessary genetic tools and methodologies for creating industrially-relevant organisms for biomolecules, biofuels, and biopharmaceuticals. To accomplish this task, traditional pathway engineering will be utilized in conjunction with novel tools for introducing genetic control (such as global Transcription Machinery Engineering, promoter libraries, and gene mutagenesis).
 
Publications:
Global transcription machinery engineering: a new approach for improving cellular phenotype (2007) Metabolic Engineering 9, 258-267.
Engineering yeast transcription machinery for improved ethanol tolerance and production (2006) Science 314, 1565 - 1568.
Identifying gene targets for the metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli (2005) Metabolic Engineering 7, 155-164.
Tuning Genetic Control through Promoter Engineering (2005) PNAS 102, 12678-12683.
Construction of lycopene-overproducing E. coli strains by combining systematic and combinatorial gene knockout targets (2005) Nature Biotechnology 23, 612 - 616.

 
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