Overview
Background
Dr. Huadong Peng is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland from Jan 2024. He is also a Future Academic Leader with Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), and a group leader at UQ's Biosustainability Hub. He earned his PhD from Monash University in 2018, followed by postdoctoral training at Imperial College London and the Technical University of Denmark until 2023. Prior to his PhD, he received his Master Degree from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013 and a Bachelor Degree from China Three Gorges University in 2010. Additionally, he worked as a research associate at Novozymes China from November 2013 to January 2015.
Currently, Dr Peng leads the Yeast Engineering and Synthetic Biology (YESBio) research group, focusing on sustainable biomanufacturing through synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. He works closely with Prof. Esteban Marcellin. His expertise includes developing innovative synthetic biology tools (gene assembly, CRISPR genome editing and biosensor), advanced microbial cell factories, and synthetic microbial communities, as well as optimizing metabolic pathways to improve the production of high-value compounds for use in food ingredients, biochemicals, biofuels, and biomedicines.
Dr Peng has secured A$544K in funding, including grants, awards and scholarships. Dr. Peng has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals like Nature Microbiology, Nature Chemical Biology, PNAS, etc., H-index 15 (google scholar Sep 2024). He is a recipient of the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad and has delivered invited presentations at major international conferences.
Dr. Peng is also an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology (CoESB) and actively contributes to the scientific community through editorial roles such as The Innovation, BioDesign Research and mLife.
Dr Peng is looking for highly motivated Honours, Master and Ph.D. students, and highly competitive full scholarship may be provided. The University of Queensland ranks in the top 50 as measured by the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities. The University also ranks 45 in the QS World University Rankings, 52 in the US News Best Global Universities Rankings, 60 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 55 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Availability
- Dr Huadong Peng is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Monash University
Research interests
-
Synthetic Biology
-
Metabolic Engineering
-
Microbial Communities
-
Lipid Metabolism
-
Microbial Food
-
Industrial Biotechnology
-
Precision Fermentation
Research impacts
Dr Peng’s research in synthetic biology is making a tangible contribution to the economy, society, and environment by developing innovative solutions for sustainable production. His work focuses on creating advanced microbial platforms that optimize the production of essential products like food ingredients, biochemicals, biofuels, and biomedicines. Dr. Peng's research on synthetic microbial communities has been featured in multiple media outlets such as Phys.org, Mirage News, showcasing his work to a broader audience.
Through these innovations, Dr Peng is helping industries reduce their reliance on traditional, resource-intensive methods, which in turn lowers carbon emissions and waste. His research promotes the use of bio-based alternatives via precision fermentation, directly contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly industrial sector.
Beyond environmental benefits, Dr Peng’s work strengthens the economy by enabling more efficient biomanufacturing processes, offering cost-effective and sustainable solutions for the agri-food and pharmaceutical industries. His research addresses global challenges such as food security and climate change mitigation, ensuring that vital resources are produced in ways that are sustainable for future generations.
Works
Search Professor Huadong Peng’s works on UQ eSpace
Featured
2024
Journal Article
High‐throughput G protein‐coupled receptor‐based autocrine screening for secondary metabolite production in yeast
Saleski, Tatyana E., Peng, Huadong, Lengger, Bettina, Wang, Jinglin, Jensen, Michael Krogh and Jensen, Emil D. (2024). High‐throughput G protein‐coupled receptor‐based autocrine screening for secondary metabolite production in yeast. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 121 (10), 3283-3296. doi: 10.1002/bit.28797
Featured
2024
Journal Article
A molecular toolkit of cross-feeding strains for engineering synthetic yeast communities
Peng, Huadong, Darlington, Alexander P. S., South, Eric J., Chen, Hao-Hong, Jiang, Wei and Ledesma-Amaro, Rodrigo (2024). A molecular toolkit of cross-feeding strains for engineering synthetic yeast communities. Nature Microbiology, 9 (3), 848-863. doi: 10.1038/s41564-023-01596-4
Featured
2023
Journal Article
Spontaneously established syntrophic yeast communities improve bioproduction
Aulakh, Simran Kaur, Sellés Vidal, Lara, South, Eric J., Peng, Huadong, Varma, Sreejith Jayasree, Herrera-Dominguez, Lucia, Ralser, Markus and Ledesma-Amaro, Rodrigo (2023). Spontaneously established syntrophic yeast communities improve bioproduction. Nature Chemical Biology, 19 (8), 951-961. doi: 10.1038/s41589-023-01341-2
Featured
2023
Journal Article
Modular metabolic engineering and synthetic coculture strategies for the production of aromatic compounds in yeast
Peng, Huadong, Chen, Ruiqi, Shaw, William M., Hapeta, Piotr, Jiang, Wei, Bell, David J., Ellis, Tom and Ledesma-Amaro, Rodrigo (2023). Modular metabolic engineering and synthetic coculture strategies for the production of aromatic compounds in yeast. ACS Synthetic Biology, 12 (6), 1739-1749. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00047
Featured
2021
Journal Article
Metabolic engineering strategies to enable microbial utilization of C1 feedstocks
Jiang, Wei, Hernández Villamor, David, Peng, Huadong, Chen, Jian, Liu, Long, Haritos, Victoria and Ledesma-Amaro, Rodrigo (2021). Metabolic engineering strategies to enable microbial utilization of C1 feedstocks. Nature Chemical Biology, 17 (8), 845-855. doi: 10.1038/s41589-021-00836-0
Featured
2019
Journal Article
Flow-cytometry-based physiological characterisation and transcriptome analyses reveal a mechanism for reduced cell viability in yeast engineered for increased lipid content
Peng, Huadong, He, Lizhong and Haritos, Victoria S. (2019). Flow-cytometry-based physiological characterisation and transcriptome analyses reveal a mechanism for reduced cell viability in yeast engineered for increased lipid content. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 12 (1) 98, 1-13. doi: 10.1186/s13068-019-1435-6
Featured
2019
Journal Article
Enhanced Production of High-Value Cyclopropane Fatty Acid in Yeast Engineered for Increased Lipid Synthesis and Accumulation
Peng, Huadong, He, Lizhong and Haritos, Victoria S. (2019). Enhanced Production of High-Value Cyclopropane Fatty Acid in Yeast Engineered for Increased Lipid Synthesis and Accumulation. Biotechnology Journal, 14 (4) 1800487, 1-5. doi: 10.1002/biot.201800487
Featured
2018
Journal Article
Single cell assessment of yeast metabolic engineering for enhanced lipid production using Raman and AFM-IR imaging
Kochan, Kamila, Peng, Huadong, Wood, Bayden R. and Haritos, Victoria S. (2018). Single cell assessment of yeast metabolic engineering for enhanced lipid production using Raman and AFM-IR imaging. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 11 (1) 106, 1-15. doi: 10.1186/s13068-018-1108-x
Featured
2014
Journal Article
Bioconversion of different sizes of microcrystalline cellulose pretreated by microwave irradiation with/without NaOH
Peng, Huadong, Chen, Hongzhang, Qu, Yongshui, Li, Hongqiang and Xu, Jian (2014). Bioconversion of different sizes of microcrystalline cellulose pretreated by microwave irradiation with/without NaOH. Applied Energy, 117, 142-148. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.12.002
Featured
2013
Journal Article
A novel combined pretreatment of ball milling and microwave irradiation for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose
Peng, Huadong, Li, Hongqiang, Luo, Hao and Xu, Jian (2013). A novel combined pretreatment of ball milling and microwave irradiation for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose. Bioresource Technology, 130, 81-87. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2012.10.167
2024
Journal Article
Metabolic Engineering of <i>Corynebacterium glutamicum</i> for the High-Level Production of <scp>l</scp>-Valine under Aerobic Conditions
Wang, Feiao, Cai, Ningyun, Leng, Yanlin, Wu, Chen, Wang, Yanan, Tian, Siyu, Zhang, Chenglin, Xu, Qingyang, Peng, Huadong, Chen, Ning and Li, Yanjun (2024). Metabolic Engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the High-Level Production of l-Valine under Aerobic Conditions. ACS Synthetic Biology, 13 (9), 2861-2872. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00278
2024
Journal Article
DELLA proteins recruit the Mediator complex subunit MED15 to coactivate transcription in land plants
Hernández-García, Jorge, Serrano-Mislata, Antonio, Lozano-Quiles, María, Úrbez, Cristina, Nohales, María A, Blanco-Touriñán, Noel, Peng, Huadong, Ledesma-Amaro, Rodrigo and Blázquez, Miguel A. (2024). DELLA proteins recruit the Mediator complex subunit MED15 to coactivate transcription in land plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121 (19). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2319163121
2024
Journal Article
Yeast Platforms for Production and Screening of Bioactive Derivatives of Rauwolscine
Bradley, Samuel A., Hansson, Frederik G., Lehka, Beata J., Rago, Daniela, Pinho, Pedro, Peng, Huadong, Adhikari, Khem B., Haidar, Ahmad K., Hansen, Lea G., Volkova, Daria, Holtz, Maxence, Muyo Abad, Sergi, Ma, Xin, Koudounas, Konstantinos, Besseau, Sébastien, Gautron, Nicolas, Mélin, Céline, Marc, Jillian, Birer Williams, Caroline, Courdavault, Vincent, Jensen, Emil D., Keasling, Jay D., Zhang, Jie and Jensen, Michael K. (2024). Yeast Platforms for Production and Screening of Bioactive Derivatives of Rauwolscine. ACS Synthetic Biology, 13 (5), 1498-1512. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00039
2024
Journal Article
Exploring engineering strategies that enhance de novo production of exotic cyclopropane fatty acids in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>
Jiang, Wei, Peng, Huadong, He, Lizhong, Lesma‐Amaro, Rodrigo and Haritos, Victoria S. (2024). Exploring engineering strategies that enhance de novo production of exotic cyclopropane fatty acids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biotechnology Journal, 19 (2) 2300694, e2300694. doi: 10.1002/biot.202300694
2023
Journal Article
Valorisation of Biomass Waste for Sustainable Bioenergy and Biofuel Production
Sun, Pei-Ti and Peng, Huadong (2023). Valorisation of Biomass Waste for Sustainable Bioenergy and Biofuel Production. Bioengineering, 10 (5) 619, 1-4. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10050619
2023
Journal Article
Enhanced production of d-pantothenic acid in Corynebacterium glutamicum using an efficient CRISPR-Cpf1 genome editing method
Su, Rui, Wang, Ting, Bo, Taidong, Cai, Ningyun, Yuan, Meng, Wu, Chen, Jiang, Hao, Peng, Huadong, Chen, Ning and Li, Yanjun (2023). Enhanced production of d-pantothenic acid in Corynebacterium glutamicum using an efficient CRISPR-Cpf1 genome editing method. Microbial Cell Factories, 22 (1) 3, 1-15. doi: 10.1186/s12934-023-02017-1
2022
Journal Article
Engineering Biology of Yeast for Advanced Biomanufacturing
Jiang, Wei, Li, Yanjun and Peng, Huadong (2022). Engineering Biology of Yeast for Advanced Biomanufacturing. Bioengineering, 10 (1) 10, 1-4. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10010010
2022
Journal Article
Metabolic engineering strategies for improved lipid production and cellular physiological responses in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Jiang, Wei, Li, Chao, Li, Yanjun and Peng, Huadong (2022). Metabolic engineering strategies for improved lipid production and cellular physiological responses in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Fungi, 8 (5) 427, 1-22. doi: 10.3390/jof8050427
2021
Book Chapter
Metabolic Engineering of Yeast for Enhanced Natural and Exotic Fatty Acid Production
Jiang, Wei, Peng, Huadong, Ledesma Amaro, Rodrigo and Haritos, Victoria S. (2021). Metabolic Engineering of Yeast for Enhanced Natural and Exotic Fatty Acid Production. Emerging Technologies for Biorefineries, Biofuels, and Value-Added Commodities. (pp. 207-228) Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-65584-6_9
2020
Journal Article
Novel scale-up strategy based on three-dimensional shear space for animal cell culture
Li, Chao, Teng, Xiaonuo, Peng, Huadong, Yi, Xiaoping, Zhuang, Yingping, Zhang, Siliang and Xia, Jianye (2020). Novel scale-up strategy based on three-dimensional shear space for animal cell culture. Chemical Engineering Science, 212 115329, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.ces.2019.115329
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Huadong Peng is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
-
Engineering modular light-driven yeast biohybrid platform
Inorganic-biological hybrid systems hold the potential to become sustainable, efficient, and versatile platforms for chemical synthesis by combining the light-harvesting properties of semiconductors with the synthetic capabilities of biological cells (Science 362, 813-816, 2018). Meanwhile, yeast was reported to use light as an energy source by adding a special light-sensitive protein (Current Biology 34, 648–654, 2024). Porphyrin based metal organic frameworks are promising nanomaterials which can efficiently captures light and facilitates the transfer of photo-generated electrons into biological cells. Few studies have explored the feasibility of this biohybrid strategy for improved cell fitness and producing chemicals. This project aims to first utilize state-of-the-art synthetic biology tools to construct advanced yeast cell factories capable of utilizing light or producing high-value compounds, followed by the verification of the efficiency and modularity of a light-driven yeast-nanomaterials biohybrid system. This project is a collaboration between UQ Biosustainability hub and UQ Dow Centre.
-
Engineering biology of yeast for the production of high-value aromatic compounds
Aromatics have a wide range of applications in food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Nowadays, the production of aromatics is mainly from petroleum-derived chemical process or extraction from plant resources. Microbial-derived aromatics provides an alternative renewable approach, which could be engineered, easily scalable and standardised (Peng et al. 2023 ACS Synth Biol 12(6): 1739-1749). However, the development of aromatics-producing microbial cell factories is limited by the time-consuming design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle, and the often complex and very long aromatics synthesis pathways. This project aims to develop advanced yeast microbial cell factories with improved production capabilities using cutting-edge synthetic biology tools and novel metabolic engineering strategies. These include advanced cloning methods such as Golden Gate and USER cloning, as well as genome editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9, genome-scale metabolic modeling (GEMs), and precision fermentation. This project will revolutionize the supply chain for aromatics by developing sustainable biosolutions that reduce dependency on non-renewable resources.
-
Metabolic dynamics of synthetic microbial communities
Microbial communities have attracted interest due to their wide applications in industrial processes (such as the production of biochemicals, biofuels, biomedicines and biomaterials) and their important role in human, animal and crop health. Despite the importance of microbial communities, we still know little about how communities are established and maintained, which restricts our ability to engineer them for either improving human health or industrial purposes. Our previous work has established a molecular toolkit that can build various types of synthetic yeast communities from scratch via the cross-feeding metabolic exchange (Peng et al. 2024 Nature Microbiology 9(3): 848-863.). However, the long-term stability of these communities is not known but essential for practical applications in the bioprocess of precision fermentation. This project aims to understand and control the stability of synthetic yeast communities in the long-term by combining the state of art synthetic biology tools and the open-source robotic bioreactor platform, Chi.Bio.
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Huadong Peng directly for media enquiries about their areas of expertise.
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: