Personal Links:
• iGEM• Research Group
• Google Scholar
Professional Memberships:
• American Chemical Society• Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
Academic Degrees
- Ph.D. Bioorganic Chemistry, Michigan State University
- M.S., Biophysics, Tsinghua University
- B.S., Chemistry, Tsinghua University
Certifications
- PhD
Current Job Openings
- Graduate students.
Experience
- 2021-present Associate Professor, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UNL.
- 2015-2020 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UNL.
- 2010-2015 Research Assistant Professor, Department of Chemsitry, UNL.
- 2007-2010 Senior Scientist, Genomatica Inc (http://www.genomatica.com).
- 2005-2007 Senior Research Scientist, Biotechnology Development Center, Cargill Inc (http://www.cargill.com).
Areas of Research and Professional Interest
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Apply metabolic engineering principles and synthetic biology tools to the microbial synthesis of industrial or other value-added chemicals from renewable feedstocks.
- Develop new enzyme catalysts and auxiliary functional proteins for efficient and green synthesis of pharmaceutical precursors and energy molecules.
In the News: Powered by the 
Funding
- National Science Fundation, CBET-1805528
Selected Publications
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1. Niu, W.*; Willett, H.; Mueller, J.; He, X.; Ma, B.; Guo, J. “Direct biosynthesis of adipic acid from lignin-derived aromatics using engineered Pseudomonas putida KT2440” Metabolic Engineering 2020, 59, 151-161.
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2. Wang, N.; Shang, X.; Cerny, R.; Niu, W.*; Guo, J.* "Systematic Evolution and Study of UAGN Decoding tRNAs in a Genomically Recoded Bacteria" Scientific Reports 2016, 6, 21898.
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3. Niu, W.*; Guo, J.* “Stereospecific Microbial Conversion of Lactic Acid into 1,2-Propanediol” ACS Synth. Biol. 2015, 4, 378-382.
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4. Wang, N.; Ju, T.; Niu, W.; Guo, J. “Fine-tuning Interaction between Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase and tRNA for Efficient Synthesis of Proteins Containing Unnatural Amino Acids” ACS Synth. Biol. 2015,4, 207-212.
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5. Niu, W.; Schultz, P. G.; Guo, J. “An Expanded Genetic Code In Mammalian Cells With a Functional Quadruplet Codon” ACS Chem. Biol. 2013, 8, 1640-1645. (This article was ranked as second most read article in May; podcast interview with the journal)
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6. Yim, H.*; Haselbeck, R.*; Niu, W.*; Pujol-Baxley, C.*; Burgard, A.*; Boldt, J.; Khandurina, J.; Trawick, J. D.; Osterhout, R. E.; Stephen, R.; Estadilla, J.; Teisan, S.; Schreyer, H. B.; Andrae, S.; Yang, T. H.; Lee, S. Y.; Burk, M. J.; Van Dien, S. “Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for direct production of 1,4-butanediol” Nat. Chem. Biol. 2011, 7, 445-452. (* co-first authors; This work won the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2011.)
Recent Presentations
- 249th ACS National Meeting, 2015, Denver, CO. "De novo biosynthesis of 1,2-propanediol from renewable feedstock through lactic acid."