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
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Synthetic Biology
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Metabolic Engineering
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Microbial Communities
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Lipid Metabolism
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Microbial Food
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Industrial Biotechnology
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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
2020
Journal Article
Preparation and characterization of whey protein isolate-chlorophyll microcapsules by spray drying: Effect of WPI ratios on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties
Zhang, Zhi-Hong, Peng, Huadong, Woo, Meng Wai, Zeng, Xin-An, Brennan, Margaret and Brennan, Charles S. (2020). Preparation and characterization of whey protein isolate-chlorophyll microcapsules by spray drying: Effect of WPI ratios on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties. Journal of Food Engineering, 267 109729, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2019.109729
2019
Journal Article
Numerical and experimental assessment of a miniature bioreactor equipped with a mechanical agitator and non-invasive biosensors
Li, Chao, Tian, Jiangtao, Wang, Weifei, Peng, Huadong, Zhang, Ming, Hang, Haifeng, Zhang, Siliang and Xia, Jian-Ye (2019). Numerical and experimental assessment of a miniature bioreactor equipped with a mechanical agitator and non-invasive biosensors. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 94 (8), 2671-2683. doi: 10.1002/jctb.6076
2019
Journal Article
Effect of inlet air drying temperatures on the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of whey protein isolate-kale leaves chlorophyll (WPI-CH) microcapsules
Zhang, Zhi-Hong, Peng, Huadong, Ma, Haile and Zeng, Xin-An (2019). Effect of inlet air drying temperatures on the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of whey protein isolate-kale leaves chlorophyll (WPI-CH) microcapsules. Journal of Food Engineering, 245, 149-156. doi: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2018.10.011
2019
Journal Article
Raman spectroscopy as a tool for tracking cyclopropane fatty acids in genetically engineered: Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Kochan, Kamila, Peng, Huadong, Gwee, Eunice S. H., Izgorodina, Ekaterina, Haritos, Victoria and Wood, Bayden R. (2019). Raman spectroscopy as a tool for tracking cyclopropane fatty acids in genetically engineered: Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Analyst, 144 (3), 901-912. doi: 10.1039/c8an01477a
2019
Journal Article
Humidity control strategies for solid-state fermentation: Capillary water supply by water-retention materials and negative-pressure auto-controlled irrigation
He, Qin, Peng, Huadong, Sheng, Mengyao, Hu, Shishan, Qiu, Jiguo and Gu, Jiayu (2019). Humidity control strategies for solid-state fermentation: Capillary water supply by water-retention materials and negative-pressure auto-controlled irrigation. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 7 (OCT) 263, 1-13. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00263
2018
Journal Article
Metabolic engineering of lipid pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and staged bioprocess for enhanced lipid production and cellular physiology
Peng, Huadong, He, Lizhong and Haritos, Victoria S. (2018). Metabolic engineering of lipid pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and staged bioprocess for enhanced lipid production and cellular physiology. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, 45 (8), 707-717. doi: 10.1007/s10295-018-2046-0
2018
Journal Article
Functional assessment of plant and microalgal lipid pathway genes in yeast to enhance microbial industrial oil production
Peng, Huadong, Moghaddam, Lalehvash, Brinin, Anthony, Williams, Brett, Mundree, Sagadevan and Haritos, Victoria S. (2018). Functional assessment of plant and microalgal lipid pathway genes in yeast to enhance microbial industrial oil production. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry, 65 (2), 138-144. doi: 10.1002/bab.1573
2014
Journal Article
Effect of acetylation/deacetylation on enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stalk
Jiang, Wei, Peng, Huadong, Li, Hongqiang and Xu, Jian (2014). Effect of acetylation/deacetylation on enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stalk. Biomass and Bioenergy, 71, 294-298. doi: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.09.028
2014
Journal Article
Improved bioethanol production from corn stover by alkali pretreatment with a novel pilot-scale continuous microwave irradiation reactor
Peng, Huadong, Luo, Hao, Jin, Shengying, Li, Hongqiang and Xu, Jian (2014). Improved bioethanol production from corn stover by alkali pretreatment with a novel pilot-scale continuous microwave irradiation reactor. Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering, 19 (3), 493-502. doi: 10.1007/s12257-014-0014-8
2011
Journal Article
Optimization of microwave pretreatment on wheat straw for ethanol production
Xu, Jian, Chen, Hongzhang, Kádár, Zsófia, Thomsen, Anne Belinda, Schmidt, Jens Ejbye and Peng, Huadong (2011). Optimization of microwave pretreatment on wheat straw for ethanol production. Biomass and Bioenergy, 35 (9), 3859-3864. doi: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2011.04.054
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Huadong Peng is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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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.
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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.
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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
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