​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, 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 .

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

Imagine 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.

Tweets by kunjapur

Recent Lab News

Jan 2025:
Aditya is organizing 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 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!