Principal Investigator
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Clement T. Y. Chan
Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Clement T. Y. Chan is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Texas. His research integrates protein engineering, synthetic biology, cellular engineering, and quantitative systems biology to understand and engineer biological functions. His laboratory develops new approaches to engineer proteins and genetic circuits that enable cells to sense environmental signals and carry out programmed responses, with applications in human health, environmental protection, and biotechnology.

Dr. Chan received dual B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from MIT, where he studied systems-level regulation of cellular responses in the laboratory of Peter C. Dedon. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research with James J. Collins at MIT and Harvard Medical School, where he developed synthetic gene circuits and genetic biocontainment technologies for engineered microorganisms.

Dr. Chan established his independent research program in 2017 and joined the University of North Texas in 2020. His laboratory has developed predictive approaches for engineering modular transcriptional regulators, genetic circuits for controlling microbial functions, and engineered probiotics for biomedical and environmental applications. Most recently, his team engineered probiotic bacteria that detect and sequester arsenite in the gastrointestinal tract, reducing systemic arsenite absorption in an animal model. His current research is expanding these approaches toward predictive protein and enzyme engineering, programmable microbial systems, and biological technologies for sensing and mitigating environmental toxicants.

Dr. Chan's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF), including an NIH MIRA award and multiple NIH small-business translational research awards. In addition to fundamental research, he is interested in translating synthetic biology technologies toward practical applications and has participated in the NIH I-Corps program and biotechnology entrepreneurship.


Postdoctoral Researcher 
2023-2024    Rahul Kumar
2022-2023    Urooj Fatima

Graduate Researcher
2026-present    Lucie Ehrhard
2025-present    Indra Vandenbussche
2024-2025    Drew Lessert
2023-2025    Jasmine Nguyen
2023-2025    Sahaj Kinshuk
2022-2023    Nhu Nguyen
2022-2024    Mary Lethe
2022-present    Vincenzo Kennedy
2021-2023    Ala Hessami
2021-2022    Alison Draeger
2018-2020    Catherine Martini

Undergraduate Researcher
2024-present    Melanie Andrews
2024-2026    Jillian Jacobsmeyer
2024-2026    Iris Li
2023-2025    Audrey Chen
2022-2024    Insiyaah Tinwala
2022-2024    Anika Chebrolu
2022-2025    Anjita Budhathoki
2021-2022    Adam Chiragh Lakhani
2020-2021    Sunny Jung Yeong Lee
2019-2020    Connor Crowe
2019-2020    Kyren Miller
2018-2020    Prabhat Kattel
2018-2020    Madeline Cano
2018               Bianca Chu
2017-2018     Benjamin Jordan
2017-2018     Rey Dimas

Staff Researcher 
2023-present    Nhu Nguyen
2023-2024    Vincent Paris
2021-2022    Katherine Beigel
2018-2020    Rey Dimas