Professor Tuck Seng Wong
BEng(Hons), MSc, PhD (Special distinction), AMIChemE
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Professor of Biomanufacturing
Overseas Admissions Tutor
+44 114 222 7591
Full contact details
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Room C58
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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I studied Chemical Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and graduated with first class honours in 2002. During my undergraduate study, I was awarded Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) by the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and started working with Prof. Frances H. Arnold on directed protein evolution. My interest in protein science was kindled by this experience. Subsequently, I moved to Germany and completed my MSc and PhD degrees at the Jacobs University Bremen under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schwaneberg. Together with Prof. Schwaneberg, we developed novel tools for directed protein evolution including Sequence Saturation Mutagenesis (SeSaM) and Mutagenesis Assistant Programme (MAP).
Upon completion of my PhD (passed with special distinction) in 2007, I joined the research team of Prof. Sir Alan R. Fersht at Medical Research Council Centre for Protein Engineering (MRC CPE, University of Cambridge). My post-doctoral research encompassed characterizing proteins involved in cancers, ageing, and mutational diseases (particularly tumour suppressor p53 and mitochondrial DNA replisome) using advanced biophysical and structural approaches.
In 2009, I joined the Department of Biological Sciences at the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) as an Associate Professor. In 2010, I was promoted to Acting Head of Department. In August 2011, I moved to the University of Sheffield (TUoS) to further advance my academic and research career. I initiated SURF programme in both XJLTU and TUoS to promote undergraduate research.
- Research interests
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The research in Wong group focuses on applying advanced protein engineering technique, specifically directed evolution, to tailor the properties of enzymes for industrial and pharmaceutical applications as well as to elucidate the design principles used by Nature. There are three key areas that we are currently working on: 1) Development of novel molecular biology tools to advance the field of directed evolution (e.g., method to create high quality mutant library), 2) Application of directed evolution to improve existing properties of industrially relevant enzymes (e.g., cytochrome P450s, carbonyl reductases, aromatic peroxygenases and hydrolases) or to create novel functions, and 3) Development of computational tools to facilitate/expedite experimental design (e.g., method to analyse genetic diversity). One of our current research projects is to develop biological carbon dioxide capture and utilization (CCU) strategies for bulk, fine and specialty chemical syntheses, capitalizing on our interest in directed evolution and synthetic biology.
Complementing protein engineering, we also apply a wide array of biophysical techniques to study various properties of biomolecules (e.g., structure, stability, oligomeric state, protein-protein interaction, and protein-DNA interaction etc). We characterize proteins/complexes involved in cancer, ageing and mutational diseases.Research topics
- Protein engineering (directed evolution)
- Biocatalysis and industrial biotechnology
- Synthetic biology
- Biological carbon dioxide capture and utilization
- Biophysics
- Cancer and ageing
Research personnel
- Pawel Jajesniak (Poland)
- Hossam Eldin Omar Ali (United Kingdom)
- Amir Zaki Abdullah Zubir (Malaysia)
- Abdulrahman H. Alessa (Saudi Arabia)
- Publications
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Books
- Ein praktischer Leitfaden für Protein Engineering. Springer International Publishing.
- A Practical Guide to Protein Engineering. Springer International Publishing.
Journal articles
- Fast‐track adaptive laboratory evolution of Cupriavidus necator H16 with divalent metal cations. Biotechnology Journal, 19(7).
- Renewfood manufacturing: Food production for a nourished, resilient nation. Open Access Government, 39(1), 468-469.
- Efficient degradation of various emerging pollutants by wild type and evolved fungal DyP4 peroxidases. PLoS ONE, 17(1).
- Engineering Cupriavidus necator DSM 545 for the one-step conversion of starchy waste into polyhydroxyalkanoates. Bioresource Technology, 126383-126383.
- Random and combinatorial mutagenesis for improved total production of secretory target protein in Escherichia coli. Scientific Reports, 11.
- Lignin to polyhydroxyalkanoate bioprocessing by novel strain of Pseudomonas monteilii. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery.
- The chemokine lymphotactin and its recombinant variants in oral cancer cell regulation. Oral Diseases. View this article in WRRO
- Author correction to ‘Design and application of genetically-encoded malonyl-CoA biosensors for metabolic engineering of microbial cell factories’ [Metab. Eng. 44 (2017) 253–264]. Metabolic Engineering.
- Accelerated directed evolution of dye-decolorizing peroxidase using a bacterial extracellular protein secretion system (BENNY). Bioresources and Bioprocessing, 6(1). View this article in WRRO
- Metabolic pathway analysis for in silico design of efficient autotrophic production of advanced biofuels. Bioresources and Bioprocessing, 6(1). View this article in WRRO
- Adaptive laboratory evolution of cupriavidus necator H16 for carbon co-utilization with glycerol. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(22). View this article in WRRO
- PTO-QuickStep : a fast and efficient method for cloning random mutagenesis libraries. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(16). View this article in WRRO
- Protein engineering for bioreduction of carboxylic acids. Journal of Biotechnology, 303, 53-64.
- An Engineered Constitutive Promoter Set with Broad Activity Range for Cupriavidus necator H16. ACS Synthetic Biology, 7(8), 1918-1928. View this article in WRRO
- An Efficient Transformation Method for the Bioplastic‐Producing “Knallgas” Bacterium Ralstonia eutropha H16. Biotechnology Journal, 12(11). View this article in WRRO
- Design and application of genetically-encoded malonyl-CoA biosensors for metabolic engineering of microbial cell factories. Metabolic Engineering, 44, 253-264. View this article in WRRO
- Rapid Construction of Recombinant Plasmids by QuickStep-Cloning. Methods in Molecular Biology, 1472, 205-214. View this article in WRRO
- QuickStep-Cloning: a sequence-independent, ligation-free method for rapid construction of recombinant plasmids. Journal of Biological Engineering, 9, 15-15. View this article in WRRO
- From genetic circuits to industrial-scale biomanufacturing: bacterial promoters as a cornerstone of biotechnology. AIMS Bioengineering, 2(3), 277-296.
- OneClick: A Program for Designing Focused Mutagenesis Experiments. AIMS Bioengineering, 2(3), 126-143.
- The mutagenesis assistant program. Methods in Molecular Biology, 1179, 279-290.
- Polishing the craft of genetic diversity creation in directed evolution. Biotechnology Advances, 31(8), 1707-1721. View this article in WRRO
- The role of active-site Phe87 in modulating the organic co-solvent tolerance of cytochrome P450 BM3 monooxygenase. Acta Crystallographica Section F: Structural Biology and Crystallization Communications, 68(9), 1013-1017.
- A novel radio propagation and radiation model of the wireless capsule endoscopy in human gastro-intestine (GI) tract. 2011 International SoC Design Conference, ISOCC 2011, 310-312.
- Biophysical characterizations of human mitochondrial transcription factor A and its binding to tumor suppressor p53.. Nucleic Acids Res, 37(20), 6765-6783.
- The accessory subunit of mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma determines the DNA content of mitochondrial nucleoids in human cultured cells.. Nucleic Acids Res, 37(17), 5701-5713. View this article in WRRO
- Physical and functional interactions between human mitochondrial single-stranded DNA-binding protein and tumour suppressor p53.. Nucleic Acids Res, 37(2), 568-581.
- Transversion-enriched sequence saturation mutagenesis (SeSaM-Tv+): A random mutagenesis method with consecutivenucleotide exchanges that complements the bias of error-prone PCR. Biotechnology Journal, 3(1), 74-82.
- Understanding a mechanism of organic cosolvent inactivation in heme monooxygenase P450BM-3. J AM CHEM SOC, 129(18), 5786-+.
- Are transversion mutations better? A mutagenesis assistant program analysis on P450 BM-3 heme domain. Biotechnology Journal, 2(1), 133-142.
- Steering directed protein evolution: Strategies to manage combinatorial complexity of mutant libraries. Environmental Microbiology, 9(11), 2645-2659.
- Challenges of the genetic code for exploring sequence space in directed protein evolution. Biocatalysis and Biotransformation, 25(2-4), 229-241.
- Toward understanding the inactivation mechanism of monooxygenase P450 BM-3 by organic cosolvents: a molecular dynamics simulation study.. Biopolymers, 83(5), 467-476.
- A filter paper-based assay for laboratory evolution of hydrolases and dehydrogenases. COMB CHEM HIGH T SCR, 9(4), 289-293.
- The diversity challenge in directed protein evolution.. Comb Chem High Throughput Screen, 9(4), 271-288.
- A statistical analysis of random mutagenesis methods used for directed protein evolution. Journal of Molecular Biology, 355(4), 858-871.
- Sequence saturation mutagenesis (SeSam) of a gene. BioSpektrum, 12(3), 277-279.
- Sensitive assay for laboratory evolution of hydroxylases toward aromatic and heterocyclic compounds. Journal of Biomolecular Screening, 10(3), 246-252.
- Structural and dynamic properties of cytochrome P450 BM-3 in pure water and in a dimethylsulfoxide/water mixture. Biopolymers, 78(5), 259-267.
- Sequence saturation mutagenesis with tunable mutation frequencies. Analytical Biochemistry, 341(1), 187-189.
- Laboratory Evolution of Cytochrome P450 BM-3 Monooxygenase for Organic Cosolvents. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 85(3), 351-358.
- Sequence saturation mutagenesis (SeSaM): a novel method for directed evolution.. Nucleic acids research, 32(3).
- Protein engineering in bioelectrocatalysis. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 14(6), 590-596.
- Glycoprofile Comparison of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Proteins Expressed in CHO and HEK Cell Lines. Molecular Biotechnology.
- Crafting Genetic Diversity: Unlocking the Potential of Protein Evolution. SynBio, 2(2), 142-173.
- Evaluating oleaginous yeasts for enhanced microbial lipid production using sweetwater as a sustainable feedstock. Microbial Cell Factories, 23(1).
- Production of Trimeric SARS‐CoV‐2 Spike Protein by CHO Cells for Serological COVID‐19 Testing. Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
- Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization using Biological Systems: Opportunities and Challenges. Journal of Bioprocessing & Biotechniques, 04(03).
- Directed evolution for improved total secretory protein production in Escherichia coli.
Chapters
- From Knallgas Bacterium to Promising Biomanufacturing Host: The Evolution of Cupriavidus necator, Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology Springer Berlin Heidelberg
- Rapid Cloning of Random Mutagenesis Libraries Using PTO-QuickStep, Methods in Molecular Biology (pp. 123-135). Springer US
- Microbial Utilization of Glycerol for Biomanufacturing, Engineering of Microbial Biosynthetic Pathways (pp. 245-302). Springer Singapore
- Back to Basics: Creating Genetic Diversity, Directed Enzyme Evolution: Advances and Applications (pp. 201-227). Springer International Publishing
- Protein engineering for lignocellulose degradation In Kumar P, Gurjar BR & Govil JN (Ed.), Environmental Science and Engineering Volume 8: Biodegradation and Bioremediation USA: Studium Press LLC.
- Engineering Ralstonia eutropha for chemical production In Zhang TC, Gurjar BR & Govil JN (Ed.), Environmental Science and Engineering Volume 10: Industrial Processing & Nanotechnology USA: Studium Press LLC.
- Tapping into biodiversity: From metagenomics to industrial enzymes In Gurjar BR, Kumar A & Govil JN (Ed.), Environmental Science and Engineering Volume 2: Biodiversity and Conservation USA: Studium Press LLC.
- Directed evolution: A powerful algorithm for advancing synthetic biology. In Singh V (Ed.), Biotechnology Volume 4: Applied Synthetic Biology (pp. 465-497). USA: Studium Press LLC.
Other
- Building global health with lego vaccines. Open Access Government, 42(1), 32-33.
- Microbe development for the biomanufacturing age. Open Access Government, 41(1), 378-379.
Preprints
- Crafting Genetic Diversity: Unlocking the Potential of Protein Evolution, MDPI AG.
- Fast-track adaptive laboratory evolution ofCupriavidus necatorH16 with divalent metal cations, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Sweetwater: an underrated crude glycerol for sustainable lipid production in non-conventional yeasts, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Production of Trimeric SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein by CHO Cells for Serological COVID-19 Testing, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Production of Trimeric SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein by CHO Cells for Serological COVID-19 Testing, Authorea, Inc..
- Purification of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike, its receptor binding domain, and CR3022 mAb for serological assay.