Time: 09:00, Sept. 17, 2014

Venue: Conference Roon on the 8th Floor

Speaker: Dr. Hongwei Yu  Marshall University

Title: Regulation of the exopolysaccharide alginate biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Introduction to the Speaker:
Dr. Hongwei Yu is a tenured Professor of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia. He is also Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Progenesis Technologies, LLC, a biotechnology startup that specializes in the use of genetic engineering to render bacteria a microbial cell factory for the production of useful biopolymers.

Dr. Yu has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States Department of Energy (DOE), the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and biotechnology companies. Dr. Yu has one patent issued, and two patents pending on the use of Pseudomonas to produce alginate. Dr. Yu has authored 44 peer-reviewed research papers, and trained Ph.D. graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Dr. Yu received his B.Sc. degree in Aquaculture from the Ocean University of China in 1983, M.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Alberta in 1990, and Ph.D. in Molecular Pathogenesis from the University of Calgary in 1994, followed by postdoctoral training in Bacterial Genetics and Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the University of Michigan Medical School before joining the faculty at Medical School of Marshall University in 1999.