Mark A. Eiteman

The research interests of Mark A. Eiteman are in fermentation and biotechnology with emphasis on microbial processes to generate fuels and chemicals. He has special interests in nutrient-limited processes, which can be used very effectively to drive a metabolic network toward a particular biochemical product.  Dr. Eiteman focuses on central metabolism and the effect of redox constraints:  genetic perturbations and operational conditions have a significant impact on the balance of NAD(P)H/NAD(P) available to direct central metabolites to the biochemical product of interest.  While much current research elsewhere typically focuses on synthetic biology at the small scale, Dr. Eiteman’s work additionally transitions small scale results into bioprocess operations, involving scale-up to a controlled bioreactor.  By working at the interface of synthetic biology and fermentation process design, Dr. Eiteman’s work uniquely allows process conditions to inform the desirable metabolic engineering strategy needed, and vice versa.  Recent work has included a variety of products from central metabolism such as citramalic acid, succinic acid, lactic acid, pyruvic acid and 5-aminolevulinic acid, as well as glycosylated small molecules and rare sugars.  Dr. Eiteman also has a continued interest in biological approaches to other problems, such as methods to convert effectively into products the sugar mixtures found in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, and the process of adaptive evolution.

Dr. Eiteman regularly teaches senior-level and graduate-level courses in biochemical engineering (ENGR4510/6510) and bioseparations (ENGR4520/6520).  Dr. Eiteman also serves as an instructor for Fermentation Engineering Laboratory (BCHE8210) presenting advanced fermentation principles coupled with design of experiments and interpretation of results.