Principal Investigator
Hongyuan Lu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Thrust of Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)
hongylu@hkust-gz.edu.cn
Biography
Hongyuan Lu is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Before establishing his research group, he completed postdoctoral training at the University of Texas at Austin and the National University of Singapore. He earned his Ph.D. from the School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on synthetic biology, protein engineering, and environmental microbiology.
His earlier work centered on biofuel production from renewable resources and the directed evolution of enzymes for industrial and environmental applications. Currently, his research integrates omics technologies, machine learning, and automation systems to discover and engineer enzymes for practical applications, as well as to program microbial cell factories for the high-yield production of bio-based products. Specifically, his work targets three key areas: plastic biodegradation, chemical biosynthesis, and mosquito control using dsRNA. Through his research, Dr. Lu aims to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of enzymes and biological systems, leveraging their potential to address pressing global challenges.
His research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, PNAS, Nature Communications, Trends in Biotechnology, and Journal of Hazardous Materials, among others. Additionally, he has secured several research grants at the national, provincial, and municipal levels, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China, along with others.
Dr. Lu’s group is currently recruiting motivated PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. For more information, please visit our recruitment page.