What does it take to bring new chemistry to life?
Our lab answers this question by genetically engineering microbes.
We engineer them to biosynthesize chemical functionalities that are underrepresented in nature.
To enable the retention of many of these functionalities, we start by eliminating the native enzymes responsible for their modification.
We design routes to biosynthesize biological building blocks such as amino acids that contain these newer-to-nature functionalities.
We couple the biosynthesis of non-standard amino acids (nsAAs) to modules that install nsAAs within proteins.
We also design safeguards to help control where engineered microbes can survive,
such as by making their survival depend on the provision of non-standard amino acids.
In summary, across our research areas, we engineer living cells to support new chemistry,
to introduce the new chemistry within proteins to expand their function,
and to rely on the new chemistry for controlled use of cells in new application contexts.
Our technologies could help improve the sustainability of chemical manufacturing, create better vaccines and therapeutics, increase the resiliency of food crops, develop new ways to recycle or upcycle plastic and biomass wastes, and more.
Our lab answers this question by genetically engineering microbes.
We engineer them to biosynthesize chemical functionalities that are underrepresented in nature.
To enable the retention of many of these functionalities, we start by eliminating the native enzymes responsible for their modification.
We design routes to biosynthesize biological building blocks such as amino acids that contain these newer-to-nature functionalities.
We couple the biosynthesis of non-standard amino acids (nsAAs) to modules that install nsAAs within proteins.
We also design safeguards to help control where engineered microbes can survive,
such as by making their survival depend on the provision of non-standard amino acids.
In summary, across our research areas, we engineer living cells to support new chemistry,
to introduce the new chemistry within proteins to expand their function,
and to rely on the new chemistry for controlled use of cells in new application contexts.
Our technologies could help improve the sustainability of chemical manufacturing, create better vaccines and therapeutics, increase the resiliency of food crops, develop new ways to recycle or upcycle plastic and biomass wastes, and more.
VisionImagine a future where we can harness our understanding of biology to improve every facet of our lives through biomolecular engineering - from the materials we touch, to the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the air we breathe, and to the health we experience. Engineering microbes can help make our society more sustainable, healthier, and more equitable. Advances in synthetic biology are helping us start to realize parts of this vision, but we are limited by what molecules engineered microbes can make and where these microbes can make them.
To help address both of these limitations for the betterment of human and environmental health, our lab programs cells to create and harness building blocks that are uncommon to nature. Join our team and help us bring this future closer to reality. AffiliationsWe are connected with various departments, programs, and national institutions that provide different ways of joining our lab and engaging with the university or synthetic biology communities after joining the lab.
We are part of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department, the Chemistry-Biology Interface Program, the Microbiology Graduate Program, and the Center for Plastics Innovation at the University of Delaware. We are also affiliated with the Delaware Biotechnology Institute and the Delaware Environmental Institute. At the national level, we are members of the Engineering Biology Research Consortium and the Manufacturing Innovation Institute BioMADE . SkillsWhile every project in the Kunjapur Lab is unique, the lab has a set of core competencies that most of our graduates receive training in.
From a discipline perspective, we guide graduates towards a Systems and Synthetic Biology framework that consists of familiarity with the different "-omes" (genome, transcriptome, metabolome, proteome) that cells have and how to manipulate them. For example, this often involves genome engineering (to stabilize new chemistries), metabolic engineering (to biosynthesize new chemistries), and protein engineering (to introduce new chemistries within proteins). From a skills perspective, we emphasize training in the ABCs: Analytical: liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry, intact or digested protein mass spectrometry, flow cytometry Biological: molecular cloning, recombineering, genetic circuit design, genetic code expansion, library design, protein purification, biochemical characterization Computational: sequence similarity network construction, protein structure prediction, protein-substrate docking, next-generation sequencing analysis, machine learning guided enzyme engineering soft skills: writing, speaking, plotting, and illustrating to expert and lay audiences Organisms: Most projects feature E. coli to more rapidly demonstrate proofs-of-concept, though an increasing number include work with a second organism such as mammalian cells or Bacillus subtilis. Many projects explore and compare the use of cell-based and cell-free chemical transformations. |
Recent Lab NewsFall 2025:
Aditya was honored to receive the Department of Energy's Early Career Researcher Award. Aditya enjoyed being on sabbatical in Denmark as an Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor at Denmark Technical University. Congrats to Dr. Neil Butler and Nitro Biosciences for receiving an NSF STTR grant! Congratulations to Roman, Mandy, Shelby, and Madan for successfully defending their doctoral theses! Summer 2025: Congratulations to Austin for successfully defending his master's thesis! Aditya was honored to receive some recognitions from the University of Delaware, including the Roberta Colman Innovation Award (along with John Koh and Shelby Anderson in recognition of the CBI Bootcamp initiative), the Gerard J. Mangone Young Scholar Award from the Francis Alison Society, and promotion to Associate Professor with tenure. Spring 2025: Mandy's paper on demonstrating an exclusive reliance between one engineered organism and another was accepted for publication in Nature Microbiology. Congrats, Mandy! Congratulations to Dr. Sunny Sen on successfully defending his doctoral thesis! Jan 2025: Aditya organized two special events this month: 1) The 2025 Mid-Atlantic Synthetic Biology Network Symposium - held at U. Delaware and with free registration thanks to several event sponsors. Registration is full with >220 registrants. 2) A pilot edition of a Chemical Biology Bootcamp for the Chemistry Biology Interface program fellows Fall 2024: A company spun out of the lab and led by Dr. Neil Butler, Nitro Biosciences, has secured an Early Stage Growth Grant from the Delaware Innovation Space, a 2024 Delaware EDGE Grant, and a BARDA Vital Dev award. Nitro has secured independent lab space and will be looking to hire soon. Aditya is now the Thomas Willing Early Career Assistant Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and is grateful to the Willing family for their support. Aditya was honored to be awarded the 2024 B&B Daniel I.C. Wang Award with an accompanying lecture at the 2025 ACS BIOT meeting. Michaela was recognized as a Rising Star in Chemical Engineering by MIT and attended the ChemE Rising Stars Workshop. She will soon start as a post-doc at MIT. Congrats, Michaela! Shelby's paper on constructing a one-pot biocatalytic cascade to synthesize L-phenylalanine derivatives from aryl aldehydes or carboxylic acids was accepted for publication in ChemCatChem. Congrats, Shelby! Summer 2024: Welcome to the lab, undergraduates Lekha Antala and Justin Swing, Master's student Niteesha Adapala, and Ph.D. student James VanAntwerp. Congratulations to Dr. Michaela Jones for defending her doctoral thesis! Aditya was elated to receive the College of Engineering Early Career Faculty award. Congratulations to Dr. Neil Butler for receiving the Allan P. Colburn Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in the Mathematical Sciences and Engineering! Apr 2024: Congratulations to Michaela on receiving the 2024 Saurabh A. Palkar Graduate Award for Mentoring! Congratulations to Shelby on receiving the 2024 Richard Wool Award for Women in Green Engineering! Aditya was honored to receive the Grand Prize for the 2024 BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize for Innovation. The prize included an opportunity to have an essay about our entrepreneurial directions published in Science and a chance to chat with folks from the journal. Aditya was also honored to receive the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Delaware Valley Section of the AIChE. Our biocatalysis team published a couple of interesting review articles. Check out Madan's review on using biocatalysts for selective functionalization towards polymer upcycling applications, and check out the team's review, led by Roman, on flavor and fragrance biosynthesis. Jan 2024: Welcome to the lab, Ph.D. student Monona Khare and Lab Coordinator Dana Arnold! Oct 2023: Priyanka's paper on designing enzyme cascades for synthesis of lignin-derived amines in cell-free and whole cell contexts was published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Congrats, Priyanka! Neil successfully defended his doctoral thesis - congrats, Dr. Butler! Sep 2023: Michaela's paper on discovering new L-threonine transaldolases that lead to better biosynthesis of beta-hydroxylated non-standard amino acids in cells was published in Communications Biology (open access). Congrats, Michaela! Aug 2023: Roman's paper on engineering bacteria to prevent the reduction of terephthalaldehyde was published in the 2023 Futures Issue of the AIChE Journal. Congrats, Roman! Seven of our undergraduate researchers presented at the UD Summer Research Symposium. Excellent job, future scholars! July 2023: Aditya was honored to receive the 2023 Early Career Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. June 2023: Welcome to the lab, CBI student Jessica Gamba! May 2023: Neil's paper on programming cells to create and harness a nitrated amino acid was published in Nature Chemical Biology. Congrats, Neil! Apr 2023: Congrats to Ishika Govil for being awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Congrats to Miyu Mudalamane for being awarded the Barry Goldwater Scholarship! Neil's paper on engineering resting whole cell biocatalysts to stabilize aldehydes was published in Metabolic Engineering. Congrats, Neil! Mar 2023: Madan's paper on designing enzyme cascades to valorize breakdown products of plastic waste was published in ACS Catalysis. Congrats, Madan! Jan 2023: Welcome new PhD students! Austin Desmarais Saloni Gupta Welcome new undergraduates: Josh Bryan, Anu Buddhikot, Abby Spangler, and Vishal Somasundaram Congrats to Neil for securing a DBI CAT grant and rising to the Develop Stage of Blue Hen Proof of Concept Funding, both for research towards commercialization. Fall 2022: Aditya was honored to be awarded a 2022 NIH Director's New Innovator Award Summer 2022: Welcome new lab members! New postdocs: Surendar Jakka and Amanda Rosier. New undergraduates: Alexander Tiso and Miyu Mudalamane. Congrats to D'Jana for being awarded a CBI G2 Fellowship! Apr 2022: Congrats to Amanda Forti and undergraduate lab member Sean Wirt for being awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Congrats to undergraduate lab member Ishika Govil for being awarded the Barry Goldwater Scholarship! Aditya was honored to be awarded a 2022 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and a 2021 Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research New Innovator Award. Jan 2022: Congrats to Michaela for being awarded a GAANN Fellowship for Inclusive Teaching! Congrats to Neil on being selected for the Philadelphia Section of the Nucleate Start-Up Mentoring Program! |
