报告题目：Engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for industrial production of semi-synthetic Artemisinin: a successful application of synthetic biology

报 告  人：Lishan Zhao

报告时间：11月25日 10:30

报告地点：闵行校区生物药学楼2-116

联 系  人：秦浩 钟建江教授课题组 34206350

报告摘要：

Currently, nearly one million people die of malaria each year. Most of those who die from the disease live in developing countries in South America, Africa, and Asia. Children under 5 are particularly affected. Unfortunately, the parasite causing malaria is becoming resistant to standard drugs. Artemisinin, known as Qinghaosu (青蒿素) in traditionally Chinese medicine, has recently been shown to be the most effective anti-malaria drug. The conventional means of producing Artemisinin is by extracting it from the woodworm plant, but its supply and pricing fluctuate significantly.  As a result, many malaria patients do not have access to this drug. In this presentation, I will describe a collaborative initiative by University of California, Berkeley, Amyris Inc. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that led to the successful development and commercialization of semi-synthetic Artemisinin using the engineered yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  This work represents a landmark example of applying synthetic biology for microbial production of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

报告人简介：

Lishan Zhao, Ph.D., has two decades of experience in developing technologies for the cost-effective production of bio-based chemicals, and a proven track record of translating scientific success into valuable technologies and products.  As Head of Enzymology and Protein Engineering, and Research Fellow at Amyris since 2008, he has led a multidisciplinary R&D team and delivered improved enzymes as well as innovative technologies that enabled the advancement of Amyris’ synthetic biology platform and commercial-scale microbial production of isoprenoids including Artemisinin and farnesene.  Prior to joining Amyris, Dr. Zhao spent 6 years at Verenium (formerly Diversa Corp.), where he led a number of successful internal and external projects on developing cellulosic technologies for biofuels.  Dr. Zhao received his doctorate from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in the field of microbial pathway engineering and enzymology, a M.S and a B.S in organic chemistry from Fudan University, Shanghai.  He has published 25 peer-reviewed scientific papers in prestigious journals including Nature, PNAS, JACS, and Annu Rev Biochem.  He is also an inventor of 15 issued patents and numerous pending patent applications.