Professor Yu Wang currently holds dual leadership roles as Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory of Engineering Biology for Low-Carbon Manufacturing and Principal Investigator of the C1 Metabolism and Bioconversion Laboratory (C1MBL). His research program bridges synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology, specializing in microbial genome editing and C1 bioconversion technologies. Through innovative integration of genome editing tools, metabolic pathway engineering, and directed evolution strategies, his team develops novel microbial chassis (including Bacillus methanolicus and Corynebacterium glutamicum) for sustainable biomanufacturing. These engineered systems enable efficient conversion of single-carbon feedstocks (e.g., methanol) and non-food biomass (e.g., lignocellulose) into high-value products including platform chemicals, amino acids, and single-cell proteins.
Professional Experience
2025-5 to present, Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory of Engineering Biology for Low-Carbon Manufacturing
2023-6 to present, Principal Investigator of the C1 Metabolism and Bioconversion Laboratory (C1MBL).
2022-6 to present, Professor, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Tianjin, CN
2018-11 to 2022-6, Associate Professor, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Tianjin, CN
2016-04 to 2018-11, Assistant professor, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Tianjin, CN
Education
2012-09 to 2016-03, PhD, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, and School of Life Sciences & Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
2015-09 to 2015-10, Exchange Student, Institute of Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
2009-09 to 2012-06, MSc, State Key Laboratory for Microbial Technology, and School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, China
2005-09 to 2009-06, BSc, School of life science, Shandong University, China
As a principal investigator, Prof. Wang has successfully led multiple nationally competitive research initiatives, including the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Excellent Young Scientist, and the Tianjin Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars. His scholarly output includes over 50 first/corresponding-author publications in premier journals such as Nature Communications, Trends in Biotechnology, Nucleic Acids Research, Metabolic Engineering, and ACS Synthetic Biology, complemented by 30+ patent applications. His scientific contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including: MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" Asia Pacific, DaSilva Award (Society for Biotechnology, Japan), Lun Shiyi Education Fund Outstanding Young Scholar, Meiji Life Science Award, CAS Distinguished Researcher, CAS Youth Innovation Promotion Association Membership.
Prof. Wang actively contributes to the scientific community through multiple leadership roles:
2024, Outstanding Youth Editorial Board Member of Green Carbon
2022, Finalist of the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific
2022, Winner of the DaSilva Award 2022, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan
2022, Lun Shiyi Education Fund Outstanding Young Scholar
2021, The Excellent Presentation Award, Chinese Society of Chemistry Young Scientists Forum IV of Biochemical Engineering
2020, Excellent Science and Technology Volunteer in Tianjin Municipality
2020, Ambassador for Popularization of Science of Tianjin Binhai District
2018, Keynote Speech Award, The Annual Conference of the Chinese Society for Microbiology
2016, Excellent Graduates in Shanghai Municipality
2014, Meiji Life Science Award, Meiji Co., Ltd. & Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS
1. Liu P, Yuan Q, Yang X, Wang Q, Chang T, Bi Y, Wu P, Zhang T, Yang J, Guo S, Xue C, Zheng Z, Xin B, Ma H, Wang Y*. 2025. A synthetic biology toolkit for interrogating plasmid-dependent methylotrophy and enhancing methanol-based biosynthesis of Bacillus methanolicus. bioRxiv,
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.06.652373v1.
2. Yang X, Zheng Z*, Wang Y*. 2025. Bacillus methanolicus: an emerging chassis for low-carbon biomanufacturing. Trends Biotechnol, 43, 274–277.
3. Liu J, Zhao X, Cheng H, Guo Y, Ni X, Wang L, Sun G, Wen X, Chen J, Wang J, An J, Guo X, Shi Z, Li H, Wang R, Zhao M, Liao X, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Wang M*, Sun J. 2025. Comprehensive screening of industrially relevant components at genome scale using a high-quality gene overexpression collection of Corynebacterium glutamicum. Trends Biotechnol, 43, 220–247.
4. Pu W, Feng J, Chen J, Liu J, Guo X, Wang L, Zhao X, Cai N, Zhou W, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2025. Engineering of L-threonine and L-proline biosensors by directed evolution of transcriptional regulator SerR and application for high-throughput screening. Bioresour Bioprocess, 12, 4.
5. Yang J, Zheng P, Li S*, Wang Y*, Sun J*. 2025. Sustainable production of chemicals from methanol via biological routes, Comprehensive Methanol Science, First Edition, 4, 488-509.
6. Cheng G, Sun H, Wang Q, Yang J, Qiao J, Zhong C, Cai T*, Wang Y*. 2024. Scanning the active center of formolase to identify key residues for enhanced C1 to C3 bioconversion. Bioresour Bioprocess, 11, 48.
7. Yang J, Fan L, Cheng G, Cai T, Sun J, Zheng P*, Li S*, Wang Y*. 2024. Engineering of cofactor preference and catalytic activity of methanol dehydrogenase by growth-coupled directed evolution. Green Carbon, 2, 242–251.
8. Xin B, Zhong C*, Wang Y*. 2023. Integrating the marine carbon resource mannitol into biomanufacturing. Trends Biotechnol, 41:745–749.
9. Cai N, Chen J, Gao N, Ni X, Lei Y, Pu W, Wang L, Che B, Fan L, Zhou W, Feng J, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2023. Engineering of the DNA replication and repair machinery to develop binary mutators for rapid genome evolution of Corynebacterium glutamicum. Nucleic Acids Res, 51, 8623–8642.
10. Sun L, Zheng P, Sun J, Wendisch VF, Wang Y*. 2023. Genome-scale CRISPRi screening: A powerful tool in engineering microbiology. Eng Microbiol, 3, 100089.
11. Zhou Y, Chen J, Pu W, Cai N, Che B, Yang J, Wang M, Zhong S, Zuo X, Wang D, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2023. Development of a growth-coupled selection platform for directed evolution of heme biosynthetic enzymes in Corynebacterium glutamicum. Front Bioeng Biotechnol, 11, 1236118.
12. Qian J, Fan L, Yang J, Feng J, Gao N, Cheng G, Pu W, Zhou W, Cai T, Li S, Zheng P, Sun J, Wang D*, Wang Y*. 2023. Directed evolution of a neutrophilic and mesophilic methanol dehydrogenase based on high-throughput and accurate measurement of formaldehyde. Synth Syst Biotechnol, 8, 386–395.
13. Pu W, Chen J, Zhou Y, Qiu H, Shi T, Zhou W, Guo X, Cai N, Tan Z, Liu J, Feng J, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2023. Systems metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for hyper-production of 5‑aminolevulinic acid. Biotechnol Biofuels Bioprod, 16, 31.
14. Pu W, Chen J, Liu P, Shen J, Cai N, Liu B, Lei Y, Wang L, Ni X, Zhang J, Liu J, Zhou Y, Zhou W, Ma H, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2023. Directed evolution of linker helix as an efficient strategy for engineering LysR-type transcriptional regulators as whole-cell biosensors. Biosens Bioelectron, 222, 115004.
15. Liu Y, Liu Y, Zheng P, Wang Y*, Wang M*. 2023. Cytosine base editing in Bacteria, p 219–231. In Bae S, Song B (ed), Base Editors: Methods and Protocols, doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-2879-9_17. Springer US, New York, NY.
16. Liu J, Liu M, Shi T, Sun G, Gao N, Zhao X, Guo X, Ni X, Yuan Q, Feng J, Liu Z, Guo Y, Chen J, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2022. CRISPR-assisted rational flux-tuning and arrayed CRISPRi screening of an L-proline exporter for L-proline hyperproduction. Nat Commun, 13, 891 (Editors’ highlights and Focus article on biotechnology and method).
17. Wang Y, Zhao D, Sun L, Wang J, Fan L, Cheng G, Zhang Z, Ni X, Feng J, Wang M, Zheng P*, Bi C*, Zhang X*, Sun J. 2022. Engineering of the translesion DNA synthesis pathway enables controllable C-to-G and C-to-A base editing in Corynebacterium glutamicum. ACS Synth Biol, 11, 3368–3378.
18. Chen J, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2022. Engineering synthetic auxotrophs for growth-coupled directed protein evolution. Trends Biotechnol, 40, 773–776.
19. Wang Y*, Zheng P, Sun J*. 2022. Developing synthetic methylotrophs by metabolic engineering-guided adaptive laboratory evolution. Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol, 180, 127–148.
20. Wang Y*, Cheng H, Liu Y, Liu Y, Wen X, Zhang K, Ni X, Gao N, Fan L, Zhang Z, Liu J, Chen J, Wang L, Guo Y, Zheng P*, Wang M*, Sun J, Ma Y. 2021. In-situ generation of large numbers of genetic combinations for metabolic reprogramming via CRISPR-guided base editing. Nat Commun, 12, 678 (Editors’ highlights and Focus article on biotechnology and method).
21. Wang Y*, Liu Y, Zheng P, Sun J, Wang M*. 2021. Microbial base editing: a powerful emerging technology for microbial genome engineering. Trends Biotechnol, 39, 165–180 (Selected cover and free featured article).
22. Zhang Z, Wang Y*, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2021. Promoting lignin valorization by coping with toxic C1 byproducts. Trends Biotechnol, 39, 331–335.
23. Fan L, Wang Y*, Qian J, Gao N, Zhang Z, Ni X, Sun L, Yuan Q, Zheng P*, Sun J. 2021. Transcriptome analysis reveals the roles of nitrogen metabolism and sedoheptulose bisphosphatase pathway in methanol-dependent growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum. Microb Biotechnol, 14, 1797–1808.
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