Kang Lan Tee

Dr. Kang Lan Tee is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of Student Support (PGT) at the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Her research leverages engineering biology to advance sustainable biomanufacturing solutions through the development of engineered microbial systems for bioplastics, CO₂ conversion, and therapeutic applications.

Dr. Tee's research program focuses on four primary areas: engineered bacteria for bioplastics production and recycling, microbial CO₂ conversion, customized microbial chassis development, and virus-like particles for therapeutics and vaccines. Her work in bioplastics involves engineering bacterial strains like Pseudomonas putida and Cupriavidus necator H16 to synthesize diverse polyhydroxyalkanoates and develop enzymes for efficient depolymerization. In microbial CO₂ conversion, her team develops systems to transform carbon dioxide into high-value bio-products. Her customized microbial chassis research creates tailored platforms optimized for specific industrial applications, while her virus-like particle work focuses on innovative delivery systems for vaccines and therapeutics.

The publication record of Dr. Tee demonstrates expertise across biomanufacturing, protein engineering, and sustainable biotechnology. Her recent work has focused on microbial synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate blends, cellular responses of bioplastic-producing bacteria, and engineered systems for customized biopolymer production. She has also made significant contributions to viral glycoprofiling for vaccine development and adaptive laboratory evolution techniques for strain optimization, with numerous high-impact publications in journals like New Biotechnology and Molecular Biotechnology.

• Global Challenges Research Fellowship (2019) for sustainable bioplastics production

Dr. Tee serves as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and on the editorial board for Bioresources and Bioprocessing. She is also a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College and BBSRC Pool of Experts. As an innovator and entrepreneur, she co-founded Evolutor Ltd to deploy proprietary adaptive laboratory evolution technologies for industrial biomanufacturing, and ReNewFood Ltd (2024) to develop novel protein-based flavor ingredients for the alternative food industry, demonstrating her commitment to translating research into impactful real-world solutions.