Faculty Profile
Mark A. Blenner
Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Career Development Associate Professor
Education
- Post-Doctorate – 2012 Harvard Medical School
- Doctorate – 2009 Columbia University
- Bachelors – 2004 Manhattan College
About Mark A. Blenner
My research group addresses big problems in sustainability, human health, national defense, and space exploration – using synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, genomics & systems biology, and protein engineering. We work mostly in eukaryotic systems (non-model yeast and mammalian cells) as well as bacteria and microbial communities. Our current focus is on plastic degradation and upcycling, oleochemical production, and addressing key industrial commercialization risks in biotechnology.
Select Publications
For a complete listing of publications, please visit the Blenner Lab webpage.
- Rodriguez, G.‡, Shabbir Hussain, M.‡, Gambill L., Gao, D., Yaguchi, A., Blenner, M.* “Engineering Xylose Utilization in Yarrowia lipolytica by Understanding its Cryptic Xylose Pathway”, Biotechnology for Biofuels 9:149 (2016)
- Schwartz, C., Shabbir-Hussain, M., Blenner, M., Wheeldon, I.* “Synthetic RNA Polymerase III Promoters Facilitate High Efficiency CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated Genome Editing in Yarrowia lipolytica”, ACS Synthetic Biology 5(4):356-359. (2016)
- Gao, D., Smith, S., Rodriguez, G., Shabbir Hussain, M., Blenner, M.* “Dual CRISPR-Cas9 Cleavage in Yarrowia lipolytica Leads to Efficient Gene Excision and Targeted Integration”, Biotechnology Journal 13:9 1-8 (2018) doi: 10.1002/biot.201700590
- Shabbir Hussain, M., Wheeldon, I., Blenner, M.* “A Strong Hybrid Fatty Acid Inducible Transcriptional Sensor Built from Yarrowia lipolytica Upstream Activating and Regulatory Sequences”, Biotechnology Journal 12(1):1-11 (2017). DOI: 10.1002/biot.201700248
- Shabbir Hussain, M., Gambill L., Smith, S., Blenner, M.* “Engineering Promoter Architecture in Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica”, ACS Synthetic Biology, 5(3):213-223. (2016)
- Blenner, M. “Influence of epigenetics on bioprocessing”, Chemical Engineering Progress, 9:72-76 (2018)
- Yaguchi, A., Lee, S., Franaszek, N., O’Neill, K., Boundy-Mills, K., Blenner, M.*. “Identification of aromatic metabolizing oleaginous yeast”, Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (In Press)
- Schwartz, C., Cheng, JF., Evans, R., Schwartz, CA., Wagner, JM., Anglin, S., Beitz, A., Pan, W., Lonardi, S., Blenner, M., Alper, H., Yoshikuni, Y., Wheeldon, I.* “Validating genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 function improves screening in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica”, Metabolic Engineering 55:9 102-110 (2019)
- Yaguchi, A., Spagnuolo, M., Blenner, M*. “Engineering Yeast for Utilization of Alternative Feedstocks”, Current Opinion in Biotechnology 53:122-129 (2018)
- Yaguchi, A., Robinson A., Mihealsick E., Blenner, M.* “Metabolism of Aromatic Compounds by Trichosporon oleaginosus While Remaining Oleaginous”, Microbial Cell Factories 16:206 (2017) DOI: 10.1186/s12934-017-0820-8
Patents (h3)
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Awards
For a complete listing of awards, please view the Full CV.
- AIChE Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division Early Career Award: 2022
- Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award: 2022
- ACS BIOT Young Investigator Award: 2021
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (PECASE): 2019
- South Carolina Governor’s Young Scientist Award for Excellence in Scientific Research: 2020
- Junior Researcher of the Year, Clemson University: 2019
- DARPA Young Faculty Award: 2020
- NIH Outstanding Investigator Award: 2019
- NASA Early Career Faculty Award: 2015
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Young Investigator Award: 2015
Research Areas
Metabolic, Protein, and Genetic Engineering; Functional Genomics and Proteomics, Systems Biology, Biomanufacturing, Biosensing, Cellular Stress Response, Genetic & Phenotype Stability
