Welcome to the Pfleger Lab‽

We are  multi-disciplined team of researchers focused on using metabolic engineering techniques to produce value-added fuels and chemicals.  With backgrounds ranging from chemical engineering to molecular biology, we are well equipped to create a variety of solutions to any research problem.  We are currently working on a variety of projects in different organisms, including Escherichia coli, yeast and cyanobacteria.  Led by Professor Brian Pfleger, we hope to solve relevant societal problems using our expertise in synthetic biology.

Recent News

  • Welcome to lab!!!!

    This fall, the Pfleger lab welcomed Sunny Chung, Shufang Huang as new CBE PhD students, Dr. Sri Harsha Adusumilli as a new post-doctoral researcher, and Tobias Mueller and Fernando Bracalente as Visiting Fullbright Scholars.

  • Congratulations to three new PhDs from the Pfleger lab

    Its hard to believe, but this fall saw three talented students complete their theses. We will miss Dylan, Francesca, and Boomer. Each of you has contributed in unique ways and your leadership will be sorely …

  • Pfleger Lab Welcomes New PhD Student

    Welcome to the lab, Anna Mangus. We look forward to your future protein and metabolic engineering work.

  • More News posts

Selected Publications

Full list of publications

  • Venkataraman M, Ynigez-Gutierrez A, Fernandes PI, Gray VI, Ané JM, Pfleger BF. A synthetic biology toolbox for manipulating bacteria in the rhizosphere. E-pub ahead of print (2023) DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00414
  • Chakraborty S, Venkataraman M, Infante V, Pfleger BF, Ané JM. Scripting a new dialogue between diazotrophs and crops. Trends in Microbiology. E-pub ahead of print (2023) DOI: 1016/j.tim.2023.08.007
  • Yan Q, Jacobson TB, Hubbard S, Cordell WT, Oleniczak RE, Ye Z, Gambacorta FV, Amador-Noguez D, Pfleger BF. Metabolic engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica to produce 1,2-diacyl-3-acetyl triacylglycerol. Metabolic Engineering. 76:18-28 (2023) DOI: 1016/j.ymben.2023.01.003
  • Pfleger BF, Täkors R. A changing landscape for using biotechnology to produce biofuels. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 80: 102913 (2023) DOI: 1016/j.copbio.2023.102913
  • Courtney DK, Su Y, Jacobson TB, Khana D, Ailiani A, Amador-Noguez D, Pfleger BF. Reconstitution and analysis of the reverse beta oxidation pathway for producing fatty alcohols. ACS Catalysis. 13, 5914–5925. (2023) DOI: 1021/acscatal.3c00379
  • Cordell WT, Avolio G, Takors R, Pfleger BF. From mg to kg: overcoming challenges in bioprocess scale-up. Trends in Biotechnology. E-pub ahead of print. (2023) DOI: 1016/j.tibtech.2023.05.002
  • Werner AZ, Cordell WT, Lahive CW, Klein BC, Singer CA, Tan ECD, Ingraham MA, Ramirez KJ, Kim DH, Pedersen JN, Johnson CW, Pfleger BF, Beckham GT, Salvachúa D. Lignin conversion to β-ketoadipic acid by Pseudomonas putida via metabolic engineering and bioprocess development. Science Advances. 9 (36), eadj0053 (2023) DOI: 1126/sciadv.adj0053