Welcome to the Kunjapur Lab Homepage

​Our lab uses genetic engineering to expand the kinds of chemistry that microbes can perform.
​We perform fundamental and applied research related to industries ranging from chemical manufacturing to healthcare.

We are part of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department, the Chemistry-Biology Interface 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, and we are members of the Engineering Biology Research Consortium.

Tools

Metabolic Engineering

The field of metabolic engineering has made tremendous strides over the last two decades, enabling commercialization of a diverse array of products. Yet, many functional groups remain difficult to introduce into small molecules.

Genome Engineering

Genome engineering, editing, and assembly technologies have advanced rapidly during the last decade. Natural microbial genomes contain many components that hinder our ability to expand biochemistry but can be edited using approaches such as MAGE and CRISPR-Cas9.

Protein Engineering

Proteins serve valuable roles as biocatalysts, biomaterials, and therapeutics. The ability to augment protein structures and functions through the incorporation of amino acids beyond the natural 20 can improve protein performance in each of these roles. 

Synthetic Biology

We are part of the synthetic biology community that strives to make biology easier to engineer. Examples of such efforts include the characterization of biological parts, the refinement of gene expression strategies, and the improvement of enabling technologies such as gene synthesis and sequencing. (Image from MIT RLE)

Vision

Recent Lab News

Imagine a future where everything needed for society can be grown from just sunlight and CO2, and where engineered cells inside your body have an augmented ability to sense and respond to disease. ​By expanding the chemistry capable in living systems, we can produce chemicals sustainably and achieve breakthroughs in diagnostics and treatments. Join our team and help us bring this future closer to  reality.

Tweets by kunjapur

Aug 2021:
Welcome to our post-doc Priyanka Nain!
Congrats to Neil on being accepted for the NSF I-Corps Sites program and the ACS BIOT Tank pitch competition!

Jun 2021:
Chris Mayhugh and Shelby Anderson joined the lab after their CBI rotations - welcome!
Congratulations to graduates of the lab - Soumili, Ryan, and Nathan!
Congrats to Michaela for being awarded the Fraser & Shirley Russell Teaching Fellowship, Sunny for receiving an AIChE award for outstanding graduate student leadership, and Neil and Morgan for Outstanding TA awards!

Nov 2020:
Welcome new PhD students!
Roman Dickey
Amanda Forti
Madan Gopal

Sep 2020:
Aditya is honored to be included among the 2020 AIChE 35 Under 35 Cohort.

Mar 2020:
Neil and Morgan both earn Honorable Mentions on their NSF GRFP submissions - congratulations!!

Jan 2020:
Aditya joined the Engineering Biology Research Consortium

Dec 2019:
Soumili Chattopadhyay joined the lab - welcome Soumili!

Dec 2019:
Morgan's review on biosynthesis of nonstandard chemical functional groups is accepted - congrats Morgan!

Oct 2019:
Neil's review on CARs is accepted - congrats Neil!

May 2019:
Michaela Jones joined the lab after her CBI rotation - welcome Michaela!

Feb 2019:
Aditya was awarded an ELBI (Biosecurity) Fellowship

Jan 2019:
Lab opening

Nov 2018:
Welcome new PhD students -
Neil Butler
Sunny Sen
Morgan Sulzbach