Mingfeng Cao

Professor Mingfeng Cao is a faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, where he has held the rank of Professor since 2021. Previously he served as a Research Scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2018–2021) and as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Iowa State University (2013–2018).

Education

• PhD in Chemical/Biochemical Engineering, Nankai University (2011)
• BS in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Yantai University (2006)

Research Interests

Professor Cao’s laboratory integrates synthetic biology with metabolic engineering to design and construct microbial cell factories capable of producing high-value chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Core themes include:

• Pathway engineering for natural-product and amino-acid derivative biosynthesis
• Enzyme evolution and directed evolution platforms
• CRISPR-based genome editing and gene regulation in non-conventional yeasts
• Fermentation process optimization for lipid and biopolymer production

His work spans the development of genetic toolkits for Issatchenkia orientalis, Scheffersomyces stipitis, and Yarrowia lipolytica, as well as advanced CRISPR systems for genome-wide functional studies.

Publication Trends

Between 2017 and 2022, Professor Cao has published extensively in top-tier journals such as Nature Communications, Metabolic Engineering, ACS Synthetic Biology, and Biotechnology Advances. The trajectory reveals a consolidation around synthetic-biology-driven metabolic engineering with increasing emphasis on non-conventional yeast chassis, CRISPR technologies, and high-throughput genotype–phenotype mapping.

Scientific Awards

No specific awards or honors are listed in the provided text.

Advising & Funding

While individual student names are not disclosed, Professor Cao’s laboratory actively mentors graduate researchers working at the intersection of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. Grant support is implied by continuous publication output, but explicit funding sources and project titles are not provided.

Laboratory & Collaborations

His research group operates from Room 303, Guihuashan Building, Xiamen University, fostering collaborations with teams at the University of Illinois, Iowa State University, and other international partners as evidenced by co-authored publications.