Engineering microbes to create and harness newer-to-nature building blocks

Abstract: Newer-to-nature building blocks such as non-standard amino acids (nsAA) can expand the repertoire of chemistries and functions that living systems can produce. However, reliance on chemical synthesis of nsAAs introduces several kinds of constraints that impact the costs and contexts where nsAAs can be used. In this talk, I will describe how biosynthesis of nsAAs can create new capabilities and safeguards for microbial engineering, including applications towards live vaccines or controlled release of microbes into the environment. I will also describe how one-pot semi-synthesis and incorporation of nsAAs within proteins can be an attractive alternative for industrial maturation of genetic code expansion (GCE) technologies in biomanufacturing, including a route for synthesis of encodable L-phenylalanine derivatives that we have developed in in cell-free and cellular formats. Overall, these research directions at the interface of metabolic engineering and chemical biology lay the groundwork for accelerating industrial adoption of, and unlocking new opportunities for, GCE for the benefit of human and planetary health.

Bio: Prof. Kunjapur was born in the United States and received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He conducted post-doctoral training with George Church at Harvard Medical School and then started his group at the University of Delaware in December 2018. His lab's work has been fortunate to receive several recognitions including New/Young Innovator/Investigator honors from the US NIH/ONR/FFAR agencies and entrepreneurial awards such as the 2021 Langer Prize and 2024 BioInnovation Institute and Science Prize. He has two young girls who are enjoying living abroad in Denmark during his sabbatical in Fall 2025.