Metal-containing enzymes (metalloenzymes) hold tremendous promise for sustainable chemistry because they perform challenging reactions under mild conditions. However, known metalloenzymes are limited in substrate scope or have complicated structures that are recalcitrant to engineering, which poses a major constraint on biocatalyst development. Excitingly, microbial genomes harbor a wealth of unexplored enzymes that can serve as … Continued
My work seeks a fundamental understanding of how stem cell regulatory networks process internal and external signals into cell-fate decisions. In the long term, I aim to construct synthetic human tissues directly from embryonic stem cells and to help build a new field focused on forward cell-fate engineering. I apply quantitative experimental approaches with mathematical … Continued
Engineering and manipulating microbial communities is a major aspiration of microbiome biology that remains out of reach because we lack quantitative, predictive laws for community ecology. Indeed, the very existence of such laws has long been questioned. Challenging this perspective, my lab has recently demonstrated that, under any defined conditions, highly reproducible assembly of microbial … Continued
The Tang lab is interested in natural product biosynthesis and biocatalysis. In the natural product area, our group is interested in elucidating biosynthetic pathways of polyketides, nonribosomal peptides and related compounds. The goal is to understand the biochemical and structural basis of different enzymes encoded in these pathways. By accumulating biosynthetic knowledge and enzymatic tools, … Continued
My research focuses on the design principles of molecular circuits that govern cell decision-making and responses. My lab has made contributions in understanding the molecular machinery of cell signaling and how molecular modules have been used in evolution to build novel new behaviors. Most recently, I have been a pioneer in the emerging field of … Continued
Cellular processes are orchestrated by a large number of biomolecules in a spatially and temporally coordinated manner within a tiny volume. To uncover the underlying organizational principles and their functional relevance, I take microscopy visualization as the primary approach to systematically map the spatial localization, temporal dynamics and activity profiles of proteins and nucleic acids. … Continued
Human tissues are composed of mixtures of cells that cooperate in a healthy microenvironment to perform the necessary functions of that organ. In contrast, altered microenvironments are a hallmark of disease. While cell-specific processes such as those controlled by a cell’s genes certainly influence the balance between health and disease, our focus is on interactions … Continued