Yilan Liu

Yilan Liu is an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on synthetic biology and microbial engineering, particularly in designing engineered bacteria for bio-based production systems, biomining, and therapeutic applications. She specializes in CRISPR-based genome editing, metabolic pathway engineering, and microbial consortia design. Her work spans diverse areas including porphyrin synthesis, probiotic development, and sustainable chemical production.

Key research interests include:

• Engineering microbes for biorecycling of plastics and bio-based chemicals
• Development of therapeutic probiotics targeting inflammatory diseases
• Optimization of extremophile bacteria for industrial biomining processes
• Design of microbial systems for enhanced extracellular vesicle production
• Development of novel genome editing tools for diverse bacterial species

Recent work highlights CRISPR-assisted engineering for nylon/PET degradation, cross-feeding microbial consortia, and porphyrin biosynthesis optimization in E. coli systems. Her research integrates systems biology approaches with genetic engineering to address challenges in environmental sustainability and biomedical applications.

Notable contributions include:

• A single-plasmid CRISPR/Cas9 system for Pseudomonas putida
• Strategies to mitigate toxic release in biomining microbes
• Innovative methods for agricultural byproduct sterilization

Current projects involve advancing microbial strain engineering for industrial biotechnology applications and exploring synthetic biology approaches to enhance microbial productivity in extreme environments.