Enzyme Engineering
Open Access

Mehdi Dashtban

Biography

Mehdi finished his PhD (2012) on the pretreatment and hydrolysis aspects of bioconversion in the Biorefining Research Institute (BRI) at Lakehead University. Mehdi earned his BSc. (1999) and his first MSc. (2001) from Tehran University in Cellular & Molecular biology and then worked as a research assistant at the National Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NRCGEB). Then, he moved to Canada in October 2004 and finished his second MSc. (2008) at the University of Calgary in the area of Biotechnology and Molecular Endocrinology. Mehdi joined BRI (2008) to pursue his PhD at Lakehead University.The main research object of his PhD was engineering fungi for large-scale cellulase production. Engineered fungal strains with improved cellulase activity were obtained and their robust cellulolytic activity was compared to the wild-type strain. Mehdi also contributed as the author of review papers in fungal bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues, lignin degradation by fungi and cellulase activities in biomass conversion.Mehdi joined Biomass Utilization Research Laboratory (BURL) at the Chemical Engineering Department at Lakehead University as a postdoctoral fellow in September 2012. He is currently conducting research on bioseparation/biorefinery.

Research Interest

Application of Microorganisms for Bioconversion,  Genomics, Transcriptomics and Proteomics Analyses of Important Fungal Species, Enzyme Discovery and Engineering for Potential Industrial Applications. Systems Analysis and Engineering Microorganisms Biological Processes for Bio-products, Fundamental and Application of Bioseparation for Production of Value-Added Products