Zhou Kang Lab

Food, Chemical and Biotechnology · Singapore Institute of Technology

Zhou, Kang

Associate Professor
Food, Chemical and Biotechnology Singapore Institute of Technology
kang.zhou@singaporetech.edu.sg
2023 – Present

Team

Name
Role
Education
Joined
Poon, Ngayu
Research Fellow
BEng (Technical University of Munich) · PhD (National University of Singapore)
2025
Lim, Zhi Xin
Research Engineer
BEng (Singapore Institute of Technology) · Pursuing MEng (National University of Singapore)
2025
Kwan, Mun Chung (Jeric)
Research Fellow
BSc (National University of Singapore) · PhD (Nanyang Technological University)
2025
Tan, Heng Yih
Research Engineer To be promoted to Research Fellow after PhD defense
BEng (National University of Singapore) · Waiting for PhD defense (National University of Singapore)
2026

Research

In the past five years, Dr. Zhou's research has focused on engineering E. coli to utilize C2 and C3 feedstocks derived from CO2 and plastics. His lab has engineered E. coli to produce valuable chemicals from ethanol [1] and ethylene glycol [2][3]; the lab also enabled E. coli to grow on glycine [4] and 1,3-propanediol [5][6]. Most of these works were previously done at National University of Singapore (NUS) before Dr. Zhou moved to Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), while some were wrapped up in SIT.

This SIT lab was established in the summer of 2025 at the new Punggol campus. Currently, the lab is focusing on three research projects funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore and the Ministry of Education Singapore. They were all based on prior works to convert CO2 or plastic waste into valuable chemicals via C1–C3 intermediates.

  1. Liang, H., Ma, X., Ning, W., Liu, Y., Sinskey, A.J., Stephanopoulos, G. and Zhou, K., 2021. Constructing an ethanol utilization pathway in Escherichia coli to produce acetyl-CoA derived compounds. Metabolic Engineering, 65, pp.223-231.
  2. Panda, S., Fung, V.Y.K., Zhou, J.F.J., Liang, H. and Zhou, K., 2021. Improving ethylene glycol utilization in Escherichia coli fermentation. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 168, p.107957.
  3. Panda, S., Zhou, J.F.J., Feigis, M., Harrison, E., Ma, X., Yuen, V.F.K., Mahadevan, R. and Zhou, K., 2023. Engineering Escherichia coli to produce aromatic chemicals from ethylene glycol. Metabolic Engineering, 79, pp.38-48.
  4. Yuen, V.F.K., Jun, D.T.Z. and Zhou, K., 2023. Improving glycine utilization in Escherichia coli. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 193, p.108834.
  5. Poon, N.Y., Sinskey, A.J. and Zhou, K., 2023. Engineering Escherichia coli to assimilate β-alanine as a major carbon source. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 107(14), pp.4581-4591.This developed the lower segment of the 1,3-PDO pathway.
  6. Poon, N.Y., Sinskey, A.J. and Zhou, K., 2026. Metabolic engineering enables Escherichia coli to grow on 1,3-propanediol. Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, 12, pp.209-217.