Christopher V. Rao

Microorganisms have long been used to produce diverse chemicals from simple substrates, such as sugars and plant biomass. Recent advances in genetic engineering have enabled us to greatly expand the diversity of chemicals that these living organisms produce. However, to produce these chemicals at high titers and productivities, we need to divert carbon flux away from growth and energy production and towards product formation. The solution often requires that we induce a state of unbalanced growth, where the cells are unable to completely oxidize their food source. One manifestation of this state of unbalanced growth is overflow metabolism, which results in the formation of different fermentation products due to incomplete substrate oxidation. In this talk, I will discuss our ongoing efforts to understand and exploit overflow metabolism in a variety of different microorganisms, ranging from bacteria and yeast, for the production of fuels and chemicals.  

Christopher Rao is the Head and Ray and Beverly Mentzer Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is also the Deputy Director for the Energy & Biosciences Institute and a member of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation. He received his B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prior to beginning his career at Illinois, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Rao received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2007, the High Impact Paper Award from the International Federation of Automatic Control in 2010, Helen Corley Petit Scholar from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2011, the Outstanding Young Research Award from the Computing and Systems Technology Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2012, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research from the College of Engineering in 2014, and the Excellence in Teaching Award from the School of Chemical Sciences at Illinois in 2008 and 2023. His research program focuses on 1) discovering how microorganisms sense and respond to their environment and 2) engineering microorganisms to produces fuels and valued-added chemicals from plant biomass. 

• Time: 11:00 AM
• Location: 206 Furnas Hall