LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/05/12 -- When it comes to those that are making a difference in the world one name comes to mind -- Dr. Sohila Zadran -- as you walk through the David Geffen School of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles you encounter students with a strong desire to change the world. These dedicated students are working for free as they await donations in an economically depressed California climate but one brave soul is motivating all of her students to keep on working towards the cause of solving our biggest health conundrums.

Perspectives in Metabolic Engineering: Understanding Cellular Regulation Towards the Control of Metabolic Routes Zadran S, Levine RD:

Metabolic engineering seeks to redirect metabolic pathways through the modification of specific biochemical reactions or the introduction of new ones with the use of recombinant technology. Many of the chemicals synthesized via introduction of product-specific enzymes or the reconstruction of entire metabolic pathways into engineered hosts that can sustain production and can synthesize high yields of the desired product as yields of natural product-derived compounds are frequently low, and chemical processes can be both energy and material expensive; current endeavors have focused on using biologically derived processes as alternatives to chemical synthesis. Such economically favorable manufacturing processes pursue goals related to sustainable development and "green chemistry." Metabolic engineering is a multidisciplinary approach, involving chemical engineering, molecular biology, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry.

Recent advances in molecular biology, genome-scale models, theoretical understanding, and kinetic modeling has increased interest in using metabolic engineering to redirect metabolic fluxes for industrial and therapeutic purposes. The use of metabolic engineering has increased the productivity of industrially pertinent small molecules, alcohol-based biofuels, and biodiesel. Here, we highlight developments in the practical and theoretical strategies and technologies available for the metabolic engineering of simple systems and address current limitations.

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