Docent
Eduard Kerkhoven
Phone: -
E-mail: eduardk [at] chalmers.se
Office: Room 3054A (Fysik Origo, Kemigården 1)
Kerkhoven lab – who are we and what do we do?
Metabolic systems biology
The research in Kerkhoven lab revolves around metabolic systems biology, where computational model-driven analysis of experimental data is used to understand, predict and engineer biology. With a particular focus on metabolism we bridge the gap between in silico prediction and in vivo validation through data-driven genetic engineering. We are working on a variety of different projects, from developing microbes as cell factories for sustainable production of chemicals, to investigating metabolic aspects in human disease.
Computational metabolic engineering
Computational analysis of metabolism helps us to come up with strategies for metabolic engineering. We reconstruct and curate genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) for various organisms (yeasts, bacteria, human) using our RAVEN Toolbox. Our model development is tracked on GitHub, and important models are those for S. cerevisiae, Y. lipolytica, S. coelicolor and Homo sapiens. These models are combined with omics analyses (primarily RNAseq and proteomics), either directly or through the use of enzyme-constrained models using our GECKO Toolbox. In addition to biotechnological applications, we have also been using our approaches to investigate for instance evolution of the yeast subphylum, and prediction of kcat values through deep learning.
Oleaginous yeasts as biocatalysts
Besides computational research, we also investigate the oleaginous yeast Y. lipolytica as microbial cell factory, for instance to produce itaconic acid. This promising platform chemical can be used as monomer to e.g. aid bioleaching, or as a range of innovative polymers. We perform this through genetic engineering, integrative omics analysis, modeling of metabolism and fermentation optimization.
Current members:
Cheewin Kittikunapong, PhD student
Simone Zaghen, PhD student
Previous members:
Postdocs
Albert Tafur Rangel (2021-2023)
Jing Fu (2019-2023)
Naghmeh Poorinmohammad (2019-2021)
Ievgeniia Tiukova (2018-2019)
Hao Wang (2016-2018)
PhD students
Le Yuan (2019-2023)
Visiting researchers
Nowrouzi Behnaz (2021-2022)
Piotr Hapeta (2018)
Patrice Lubuta (2017)
Xiaojun Ji (2016-2017)
Master students
Andreas Gällblad (2022-2023)
Alessandro Fossen (2022-2023)
Hanna Östermark (2021-2022)
Alexander Kornberg (2021)
Bob Wabeke (2019-2020)
Philip Gorter de Vries (2018-2019)
Francisco Zorrilla (2018)
Severo Balasbas (2018)
John Hellgren (2016-2017)
