Victor Ujor
Assistant Professor, Food Science
Research interests: Fermentation, renewable fuels and biochemicals, metabolic engineering/synthetic biology, bioprocess design, bioconversion of food wastes and agricultural residues to value-added products.
About
My research interests are in the areas of sustainable biomanufacturing, unravelling metabolic bottlenecks that limit microbial production of fuels and chemicals, synthetic biology towards enhanced production of bio-chemicals, and improving and deploying the metabolic dexterity of microbial systems to mop up excess nutrients in waste streams, while producing important chemicals. As the global population increases, it becomes increasingly important to develop sustainable technologies for producing chemicals that drive our industries while exerting significant influences on food production and processing. Further, growing concerns over climate change and its impact on water supply call for advanced measures to recover water from currently untreated waste streams. Bio-based systems hold considerable promise towards meeting these goals. My overarching research goal is to contribute towards sustainable production of value-added chemicals, whilst ensuring that effluents with benign impacts on the environment are generated.
Asides research, I am an avid football (soccer) fan-yes I am passionate supporter of Chelsea football Club of London, England (the best football team in the world). Also, I enjoy travelling, reading and spending time with my family-i.e., indoctrinating my son into the Chelsea family.
Experience
Assistant Professor
The Ohio State University
Wooster, Ohio, USA
Postdoctoral Researcher
The Ohio State University
Wooster, Ohio, USA
Ph.D. in Applied Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology
University of Westminster
London, England
MSc in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
University of Westminster
London, England
BSc in Applied Microbiology and Brewing
Enugu State University of Science and Technology
Enugu, Nigeria
Areas of Study
The Ujor Lab deploys molecular engineering tools and fermentation biology to design, construct and test microbial cell factories and processes for efficient conversion of waste residues such as whey permeate, lignocellulosic biomass, anaerobic digestate and glycerol (waste from biodiesel production) to value-added renewable chemicals, biofuels and sustainable materials with assorted potential applications. Further, the Ujor Lab studies the underlying molecular basis for poor utilization of different cheap feedstocks by select microbial workhorses and the molecular regulatory networks underpinning limited bioproduction of select renewable chemicals and fuels. Results from these studies are put to work towards engineering robust over producers of different target renewable chemicals.