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Jay D. Keasling

University of California, Berkeley · US
Area of research
Molecular Biology · Pharmacology
Research interest
Jay Keasling is the Philomathia Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy and a Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and of Bioengineering. The research in the Keasling Laboratory focuses on the metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the environmentally friendly synthesis of biofuels, commodity and specialty chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. To that end, they have developed a number of new genetic and mathematical tools to allow more precise and reproducible control of metabolism. These tools are being used in such applications as synthesis of biodegradable polymers, biofuels, flavors and fragrances, and pharmaceuticals.
h-index
128
citations
67,116
works
846
NIH funding
primary concept
Chemistry
email

Recent publications

Growth-coupled reverse β-oxidation enables redox-balanced fatty-alcohol fermentation and strain evolution
2026cited by 0position: contributordoi
Techno-economic assessment-guided biofoundry for microbial strain development.
2026cited by 0position: contributordoi
Influence of titer, rate, yield, and scale on the cost and life-cycle emissions of biomanufacturing.
2026cited by 0position: contributordoi
A biosynthetic survey of hypocrealean biocontrol fungi.
2026cited by 0position: contributordoi
Author Correction: A polyketide-based biosynthetic platform for diols, amino alcohols and hydroxy acids
Nature Catalysis 2026cited by 0position: contributordoi
Binary vector copy number engineering improves Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
2025cited by 27position: contributordoi
Fast growth and high-titer bioproduction from renewable formate via metal-dependent formate dehydrogenase in Escherichia coli
Nature Communications 2025cited by 22position: middledoi
A polyketide-based biosynthetic platform for diols, amino alcohols and hydroxy acids
Nature Catalysis 2025cited by 14position: contributordoi
Retrobiosynthesis of unnatural lactams via reprogrammed polyketide synthase
Nature Catalysis 2025cited by 11position: contributordoi
Partnerships with Indigenous Peoples for an ethical bioeconomy
Nature Communications 2025cited by 10position: middledoi
Machine learning-led semi-automated medium optimization reveals salt as key for flaviolin production in Pseudomonas putida.
2025cited by 8position: contributordoi
Fast growth and high-titer bioproduction from renewable formate via metal-dependent formate dehydrogenase in Escherichia coli.
2025cited by 7position: contributordoi
Partnerships with Indigenous Peoples for an ethical bioeconomy.
2025cited by 5position: contributordoi
Automated Strain Construction for Biosynthetic Pathway Screening in Yeast.
2025cited by 4position: contributordoi
Labels as a feature: Network homophily for systematically annotating human GPCR drug-target interactions.
2025cited by 4position: contributordoi
Engineering controllable alteration of malonyl-CoA levels to enhance polyketide production.
2025cited by 3position: contributordoi
Engineering Polyketide Stereocenters with Ketoreductase Domain Exchanges.
2025cited by 3position: contributordoi
Leveraging a synthetic biology approach to enhance BCG-mediated expansion of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells
2025cited by 2position: contributordoi
Black yeasts are efficient heterologous hosts of a wide range of fungal polyketides
2025cited by 2position: contributordoi
Hyaluronan Ameliorates Viral Pneumonia in Mice and Humans by Inhibiting Transcription Factor E2F1
American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology 2025cited by 2position: middledoi
RB-TnSeq elucidates dicarboxylic-acid-specific catabolism in β-proteobacteria for improved plastic monomer upcycling.
2025cited by 1position: contributordoi
Advances in the microbial biosynthesis of therapeutic terpenoids.
2025cited by 1position: contributordoi
The mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis supports metabolic flexibility in <i>Mycobacterium marinum</i>.
2025cited by 1position: contributordoi
RB-TnSeq elucidates dicarboxylic acid specific catabolism in β-proteobacteria for improved plastic monomer upcycling
2025cited by 1position: contributordoi
A highly active Burkholderia polyketoacyl-CoA thiolase for production of triacetic acid lactone.
2025cited by 0position: contributordoi
Enzymology and Structural Basis of Glycosyltransferases Involved in Saponin C28 Carboxylic Acid <i>O</i>‑d‑Fucosylation.
2025cited by 0position: contributordoi
Author Correction: Binary vector copy number engineering improves Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
2025cited by 0position: contributordoi
Merging the computational design of chimeric type I polyketide synthases with enzymatic pathways for chemical biosynthesis.
2025cited by 0position: contributordoi
Author Correction: Machine learning-led semi-automated medium optimization reveals salt as key for flaviolin production in Pseudomonas putida.
2025cited by 0position: contributordoi
A biosynthetic survey of biocontrol fungi
2025cited by 0position: contributordoi

Grants

Expanding protein sequence space beyond the bounds of evolution: Polyketide synthase-driven biosynthesis of designer amino acids
NSF2420238$1,000,0002024–2027PIRePORTER
FMRG: Digital Light Manufacturing for the Circular Economy
NSF2036849$3,706,1122020–2026PIRePORTER
Physical regulation of cellular respiration by membrane lipid composition
NSF1715681$625,3402017–2021PIRePORTER
Indo-US Workshop on "Cell Factories" to be held in Mumbai, India
NSF1630180$15,9102016–2018PIRePORTER
Design Principles for Engineering Biology - Hyatt Regency, Tysons, VA - November 11 & 12, 2015
NSF1565318$75,3752015–2016PIRePORTER
ERASynBio: Synthetic biochemical pathways for efficient production of novel biofuels (SynPath)
NSF1442724$789,7912014–2018PIRePORTER
Investigation of terminal alkene formation by polyketide synthases and the application toward sustainable alpha-olefin production
NSF1437775$377,1462014–2018PIRePORTER
Synthetic Biology of Yeast
NSF1330914$5,712,8722013–2020PIRePORTER
Collaborative Research: Exploiting the Syntegron Technology Platform for Assembly and 0ptimisation of Complex Genetic Ensembles
NSF1341894$720,4002013–2016PIRePORTER
Collaborative Research: Synthetic integrons for continuous directed evolution of complex genetic ensembles
NSF0943392$433,1162009–2013PIRePORTER
ARS Synthetica - A Multimedia Forum Exploring the Artful Design of Living Things
NSF0853031$74,9022009–2011PIRePORTER
Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC)
NSF0540879$37,433,3922006–2016PIRePORTER
Laboratory evolution of mRNA stability
NSF0439124$430,1072005–2008PIRePORTER
Biochemical Engineering XII
NSF0124591$21,0002001–2002PIRePORTER
Engineering mRNA Stability for Coordinated Expression of Multiple Genes in New Operons
NSF9906405$374,2022000–2003PIRePORTER
ME: Metabolic Engineering of Isoprenoid Production
NSF9911463$226,2342000–2003PIRePORTER
ME: Strategies for Metabolic Engineering of Environmental Microorganisms - Applications to Degradation of Organophosphate Contaminants
NSF9814088$264,9801998–2001PIRePORTER
CAREER: Strategies for Metabolic Engineering of Bacteria: Novel Synthesis of Biodegradable Polymers
NSF9502495$268,2901995–2000PIRePORTER
Research Initiation Award: Design of Auxiliary Chromosomes for Escherichia coli
NSF9409603$118,0391994–1997PIRePORTER

Frequent collaborators

· 101 papers (2019–2026)Christopher J. Petzold · Office of Science22 papers (2019–2026)Aindrila Mukhopadhyay · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory16 papers (2020–2026)Nathan Hillson · University of Wisconsin–Madison12 papers (2019–2025)Yan Chen · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory11 papers (2019–2026)Hector Garcia Martin · Pacific Northwest National Laboratory11 papers (2019–2025)Patrick M. Shih · Joint Genome Institute9 papers (2020–2025)Yuzhong Liu · Hubei Engineering University8 papers (2020–2024)Trent R. Northen · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory8 papers (2019–2026)Mitchell G. Thompson · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory8 papers (2020–2025)Paul D. Adams · University of Arkansas at Fayetteville7 papers (2019–2026)Tyler W. H. Backman · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory7 papers (2024–2026)Edward E. K. Baidoo · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory6 papers (2015–2025)Michael Krogh Jensen · Foundation Center6 papers (2020–2025)Xiaozhou Luo · State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry6 papers (2023–2024)Henrik V Scheller · University of Georgia6 papers (2020–2024)Corinne D. Scown · Berkeley College6 papers (2021–2026)Guangxu Lan · University of Chicago5 papers (2022–2025)Thomas Eng · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory5 papers (2020–2025) · 5 papers (2024–2026)