Research

There have been significant advances in the understanding of protein sequences, structures, and functions which in turn have aided the engineering of synthetic proteins with novel structures and/or functions. These proteins have been invaluable sources for studying biology and chemistry as well as in developing new medicines. Since proteins function in complex cellular environments, protein engineering approaches have also been applied to engineer signaling pathways, networks interconnecting the pathways, and ecosystems where cells communicate with each other. The central goal of the Synthetic Protein Engineering Laboratory (SPEL) at Ajou University is to generate novel and useful biological systems by utilizing protein engineering approaches for applications in therapeutics, microbial cell factories, cell engineering, and biosensors.

We utilize various protein engineering tools such as directed evolution, protein design, unnatural amino acids, and machine learning and are currently working on three specific research topics: 1) Protein Conjugation; 2) Protein Switches; and 3) Enzyme Engineering.