Curriculum Vitae
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XIAOZHOU (JOHN) ZHANG Phone: (404)-293-6888 Website: www.xiaozhouzhang.com E-mail: [email protected] 226 Mountain Breeze Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060 CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION Ph.D. in Environmental Microbiology & Engineering, 2006, Nanjing Agricultural University, China. B.Eng. in Food Science & Engineering, 2001, Qingdao Agricultural University, China. WORKING EXPERIENCES Principal Investigator and Chief Technology Officer (2011 - present) Gate Fuels, Inc., Blacksburg, VA. Served as the Principal Investigator and managed several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects from NSF and DOE for one-step biochemical production from lignocellulosic biomass by engineered microorganisms; Established Bacillus subtilis platforms through enzyme engineering and expression, mutagenesis approach, genome and metabolic engineering for commodity chemicals production from biomass; Established new multi DNA fragments assembling system in yeast with new temperature sensitive yeast-B. subtilis-E. coli shuttle vectors for the reliable and fast genome and metabolic engineering in microorganisms; Research Scientist (2010 - 2013), Senior Research Associate (2009 - 2010), Postdoc (2008-2009) Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. Isolated, identified, and characterized cellulolytic strains from different environmental soil samples; Established a novel powerful and highly efficient Bacillus subtilis platform for protein engineering (especially for cellulase) by directed evolution and enzyme performance improvement; Developed a new universal, simple, fast and enzyme-free cloning system in E. coli and Bacillus subtilis; Created a new Bacillus subtilis strain for the super-competence development and transformation with an extremely easy protocol; Cloned, characterized and engineered cellulases for cellulolytic microorganism Clostridium phytofermentans ISDg; Constructed the first genetically engineered cellulolytic Bacillus subtilis strain and realized one-step low cost biofuels & biochemicals production from pretreated biomass; Postdoctoral Research Associate (2006 - 2008) Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. Elucidated the mechanism of non-classical protein secretion pathways in Bacillus subtilis; Constructed serial B. subtilis mutants and performed systematic analysis of their secretome. Assistant Engineer (2004 - 2006), Graduate Research Assistant (2001 -2006) Center of Research & Design in Environmental and Energy Source Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China. Developed a novel universal system for unmarked genetic engineering in Bacillus subtilis; Achieved the high-level expression of the degradative gene and the efficient secretion of enzyme in Bacillus; Discovered and engineered microorganisms from environment soil or waste water samples for in situ biodegradation of the pesticides and herbicides pollutions on farm produce or the biocontrol of plant pathogens; Performed the field study of biodegradation by bacterial strains and applied molecular methods to monitor the changes of the microbial community. Senior Technical Consultant (2004 - 2006) Nanjing SciGene Science & Technology Co. Ltd., Nanjing, China. Provided technical assistance, support, and advice to sales representatives and customers. Curriculum Vitae – Xiaozhou (John) Zhang Page 1 of 6 TEACHING & MENTORING EXPERIENCES Mentor, Scieneering Program for interdisciplinary undergraduate studies and research, Virginia Tech, 2011. Co-supervised two Master graduate students and two postdocs, Virginia Tech, 2008 - 2011. Co-supervised one Ph.D. graduate student and three undergraduate students, Nanjing Agricultural University, 2005 - 2006. Teaching Assistant, taught fundamental, principles and laboratory skills in microbiological research to undergraduate students, Nanjing Agricultural University, 2002 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AD HOC GRANT REVIEWERS: NSF SBIR Proposal Panelist • Maryland Technology Transfer and Commercialization Fund AD HOC JOURNAL REVIEWERS: Biodegradation • Nucleic Acids Research • Bioresource Technology • Plant Soil & Environment • Current Microbiology • Microbiology China • Letters in Applied Microbiology • Microbial Cell Factories • Journal of Applied Microbiology • Chinese Journal of Biotechnology • Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry • European Food Research and Technology • Journal of Food Science & Technology • Protein & Peptide Letters• Frontiers in Cellulose Biotechnology (Review Editor) GRANT AWARDED Principal Investigator, Small Business Innovation Research Phase I: High-yield production of fumarate from cellulosic biomass by recombinant cellulolytic Bacillus subtilis. US Department of Energy, 2012. Principal Investigator, Small Business Innovation Research Phase I, IB & II: One-step production of lactic acid from lignocellulosic biomass by recombinant cellulolytic Bacillus subtilis. Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships, US National Science Foundation, 2011~2015. Principal Investigator, The directed evolution of cellulase based on Bacillus subtilis expression and secretion system and the screening towards nature cellulose substrate. Platform Development Project, Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Jilin University, 2011. Co-Principal Investigator, One-step production of microdiesel from lignocellulosic biomass by recombinant cellulolytic thermophilic Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius. Integrated Internal Competitive Grants Program, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Tech, 2010-2011. Co-Principal Investigator, One-step production of ethanol from pretreated biomass by recombinant cellulose-utilizing Bacillus subtilis strain. The Biodesign and Bioprocessing Research Center, Virginia Tech, 2010-2012. SELECTED AWARDS Outstanding Graduate Student Award & Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award, 2006. Outstanding Academia Model of Nanjing Agricultural University, 2005. Excellent Paper Awards, Annual Meeting of Jiangsu Society for Microbiology, 2004 & 2005. Excellent Paper Award, Doctoral Academic Forum of Jiangsu Province, 2004. Excellent Paper Award, Symposium on Microbiology Research for the Yong Scientists in Jiangsu, 2003. Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award of Shandong Province, 2000. PATENTS Zhang, X.-Z., et al. U.S. Patent Application 61/815,115, Method for creating recombinant microorganism for production of biofuels and chemicals directly from methane, 2013. Curriculum Vitae – Xiaozhou (John) Zhang Page 2 of 6 Zhang, X.-Z., et al. U.S. Patent Application 61/729,937, Method of creating recombinant cellulolytic Bacillus subtilis strain for low cost one-step fumarate production from lignocellulosic biomass, 2012. Zhang, X.-Z., et al. U.S. Patent Application 61/479,640, One-Step production of lactate from cellulose as sole carbon source without other organic nutrients by recombinant cellulolytic Bacillus subtilis, 2012. Zhang, X.-Z., et al. Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties (VTIP) Case Number 09-095, Recombinant Gram- positive microorganism growing on cellulose as the sole carbon source in defined media, 2009. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 1. Yang, C.-K., Zhang, X.-Z., Lu, C.-D., and Tai, P.-C. (2014) An internal hydrophobic helical domain of Bacillus subtilis enolase is essential but not sufficient as a non-cleavablesignal for its secretion, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, in press. 2. Zhang, X.-Z., You, C., and Zhang, Y.-H.P. (2014) Transformation of Bacillus subtilis, In Lianhong Sun and Weying Shou (eds.), Engineering and Analyzing Multicellular Systems: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 1151, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-0554-6_7, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014. 3. Ahmad, S., Ma, H., Akhtar, M. W., Zhang, Y.-H. P., and Zhang, X.-Z.* (2014) Directed evolution of Clostridium phytofermentans glycoside hydrolase family 9 endoglucanase for enhanced specific activity on solid cellulosic substrate, BioEnergy Research, DOI: 10.1007/s12155-013-9382-8. 4. You, C., Chen, H., Myung, S., Sathitsuksanoh, N., Ma, H., Zhang, X.-Z., Li, J., and Zhang, Y.-H. P. (2013) Enzymatic transformation of non-food biomass to starch, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, in press. 5. You, C., Zhang, X.-Z.*, and Zhang, Y.-H. P. (2012) Simple Cloning: direct transformation of PCR product (DNA multimer) to Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78, 1593- 1595. 6. You, C., Zhang, X.-Z., Sathitsuksanoh, N., Lynd, L., and Zhang, Y.-H.P. (2012) Enhanced microbial cellulose utilization of recalcitrant cellulose by an ex vivo cellulosome-microbe complex, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78, 1437-1444. 7. You, C., Zhang, X.-Z., and Zhang, Y.-H. P. (2012) Mini-scaffoldin enhanced mini-cellulosomehydrolysis performance on low-accessibility cellulose (Avicel) more than on high-accessibility amorphous cellulose, Biochemical Engineering Journal, 63, 57-65. 8. Wang, Q., Qian, C., Zhang, X.-Z., Liu, N., Yan, X., and Zhou, Z. (2012) Characterization of a novel thermostable β-glucosidase from a metagenomic library of termite gut, Enzyme and Microbial Technology, 51,319-324. 9. Yang, C.-K., Ewis, H. E., Zhang, X.-Z., Lu, C.-D., Hu, H.-J., Pan, Y., Abdelal, A. T., and Tai, P. C. (2011) Non-classical protein secretion of Bacillus subtilis in the stationary phase is not due to cell lysis. Journal of Bacteriology, 193, 5607-5615. 10. Zhang, X.-Z., Sathitsuksanoh,