Bio

B.S. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1999Ph.D. University of Delaware, 2006Post-Doc: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2006-2009

"We utilize synthetic biology and protein engineering to address emergent challenges across diverse areas such as sustainable production of green materials, advanced biomanufacturing, improving drug bioavailability and combating antimicrobial resistance."

Bryan Berger, Associate Professor

Bryan received his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the department of biochemistry & biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Currently Bryan is associate professor of chemical engineering with a joint appointment in biomedical engineering.

The Berger lab uses synthetic biology and protein engineering approaches to develop models of biochemical/biological processes, and uses these models to design new tools and technologies. This work is highly interdisciplinary, involving close collaborations with clinical, government and industrial research groups.

Work in the Berger group is funded by grants from the NIH, NSF and industrial partners. Bryan is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award, and serves on the editorial board of Biochemical Engineering Journal. Bryan is also co-founder of an early-stage start-up developing green, sustainable bio-based alternatives to chemical disinfectants. 

Awards

  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award 2015

Research Interests

  • synthetic biology
  • biomanufacturing
  • biofilm
  • protein engineering
  • biomineralization
  • biosurfactants
  • drug formulation and delivery
  • membrane biophysics

In the News

Selected Publications

  • Eckersley EC, Berger BW. An engineered polysaccharide lyase to combat harmful algal blooms. ABS Biochemical Engineering Journal (2018) 132: 225–232
  • Sallada ND, Dunn KJ, Berger BW. A Structural and Functional Role for Disulfide Bonds in a Class II Hydrophobin ABS Biochemistry (2017) 57 (5), 645–653
  • Barton R, Khakbaz P, Bera I, Klauda JB, Iovine MK, Berger BW. Interplay of specific trans- and juxtamembrane interfaces in Plexin A3 dimerization and signal transduction ABS Biochemistry (2016) 55 (35): 4928–4938
  • Curran CD, Lu L, Jia Y, Kiely CJ, Berger BW, McIntosh ST. Direct Single-Enzyme Biomineralization of Catalytically Active Ceria and Ceria–Zirconia Nanocrystals. ABS ACS Nano (2017) 11 (3), 3337–3346
  • Sallada ND and Berger BW. Hydrophobins: multifunctional biosurfactants for interface engineering ABS Journal of Biological Engineering (2019) 13:10