Professor, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Professor (Affiliate), Biomedical Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Molecular Biotechnology

engineering.uci.edu/users/nancy-da-silva

Dr. Da Silva's primary research focus is molecular biotechnology. Her research emphasizes molecular level design combined with subsequent application and analysis, and has focused on the important industrial yeasts: Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Bakers' yeast), Pichia pastoris, Kluyveromyces lactis, and Kluyveromyces marxianus. Applications have included the production of pharmaceuticals, biorenewable chemicals, and biofuels, and the removal of toxic compounds from water.

Her current research focuses on the engineering of cellular and metabolic pathways in yeast, developing synthetic metabolon assembly systems, and controlling regulation and transport in the cell. A major focus is improving the synthesis of acetyl-CoA based products, including polyketides (an important class of pharmaceuticals and chemical precursors). Another focus of her lab is the engineering of yeast for protein overexpression and secretion, including the synthesis and characterization of cell-responsive biopolymers.

Nancy Da Silva is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (affiliate) at the University of California, Irvine. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. She was a member of the 10-year NSF Engineering Research Center CBiRC (Center for Biorenewable Chemicals), where she was Thrust Leader for the Microbial Metabolic Engineering group. She is a Fellow of AIMBE, has received several teaching/research awards, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Metabolic Engineering Communications, Associate Editor of Microbial Cell Factories, and on several journal editorial boards.

S. Bassett, J.C. Suganda, N.A. Da Silva*. 2024. Engineering peroxisomal surface display for enhanced biosynthesis in the emerging yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus. Metab. Eng. 86, 326-336.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2024.10.014

S. Bassett, N.A. DaSilva*. 2024. Engineering a carbon source-responsive promoter for improved biosynthesis in the non-conventional yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus. Metab. Eng. Comm. 18:e00238
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mec.2024.e00238

P.B. Besada-Lombana, W. Chen, N.A. DaSilva*. 2024. An extracellular glucose sensor for substrate-dependent secretion and display of cellulose-degrading enzymes. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 121,403–408.
https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.28549

A. Pham, S. Bassett, W. Chen, N.A. DaSilva*. 2023. Assembly of metabolons in yeast using Cas6-mediated RNA scaffolding. ACS Synth. Biol. 12, 1164-1174.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.2c00650

H.C. Yocum†, S. Bassett†, N.A. DaSilva*. 2022. Enhanced production of acetyl-CoA-based products via peroxisomal surface display in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119:e2214941119.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2214941119

D. Bever, I. Wheeldon, N.A. Da Silva*. 2022. RNA polymerase II-driven CRISPR-Cas9 system for efficient non-growth-biased metabolic engineering of Kluyveromyces marxianus. Metab. Eng. Commun. 15:e00208.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mec.2022.e00208

H.C. Yocum†, A. Pham†, N.A. DaSilva*. 2021. Successful enzyme colocalization strategies in yeast for increased synthesis of non-native products. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 9:606795.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.606795

X. Lang†, P.B. Besada-Lombana†, M. Li, N.A. DaSilva*, I. Wheeldon*. 2020. Developing a broad-range promoter set for metabolic engineering in the thermotolerant yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus. Metab. Eng. Comm. 11:e00145.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mec.2020.e00145

P.B. Besada-Lombana, N.A. DaSilva*. 2019. Engineering the early secretory pathway for increased protein secretion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Metab. Eng. 55, 142-151.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2019.06.010

R.A. Que, D.R. Crakes, F. Abdulhadi, C.-H. Niu, N.A. Da Silva*, S.-W. Wang*. 2018. Tailoring collagen to engineer the cellular microenvironment. Biotechnol. J.
DOI: 10.1002/biot.201800140.

T.L. McTaggart, D. Bever, S. Bassett, N.A. DaSilva*. 2019. Synthesis of polyketides from low cost substrates by the thermotolerant yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 116, 1721-1730.
https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.26976

C. Vickery, J. Cardenas, M.E. Bowman, M.D. Burkhart, N.A. Da Silva*, J.P. Noel*. 2018. A coupled in vitro/in vivo approach for engineering a heterologous Type III PKS to enhance polyketide biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 115, 1394-1402.

P.B. Besada-Lombana, T.L. McTaggart, N.A. Da Silva*. 2018. Molecular tools for pathway engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 53, 39-49.

R. Fernandez-Moya, N.A. Da Silva*. 2017. Minireview: Engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for high-level synthesis of fatty acids and derived products. FEMS Yeast Res. 17(7).

P.B. Besada-Lombana, R. Fernandez-Moya, J. Fenster, N.A. Da Silva*. 2017. Engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae fatty acid composition for increased tolerance to octanoic acid. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 114, 1531-1538.

J. Cardenas, N.A. Da Silva*. 2016. Engineering cofactor and transport mechanisms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for enhanced acetyl-CoA and polyketide biosynthesis. Metab. Eng. 36, 80-89.

C. Leber, J.W. Choi, B. Polson, N.A. Da Silva*. 2016. Disrupted short chain specific ß-oxidation and improved synthase expression increase synthesis of short chain fatty acids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 113, 895-900.

R. Fernandez-Moya, C. Leber, J. Cardenas, N.A. Da Silva*. 2015. Functional replacement of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae fatty acid synthase with a bacterial type II system allows flexible product profiles. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 112, 2618-2623.

R.A. Que, S.W.P. Chan, A. Jabaiah, R.H. Lathrop, N.A. Da Silva*, S.-W. Wang*. 2015. Tuning cellular response by modular design of bioactive domains in collagen. Biomaterials. 53, 309-317.

L.P. Saunders, M.J. Bowman, J.A. Mertens, N.A. Da Silva, R.E. Hector*. 2015. Triacetic acid lactone production in industrial Saccharomyces yeast strains. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 42, 711-721.

C. Leber, B. Polson, R. Fernandez-Moya, N.A. Da Silva*. 2015. Overproduction and secretion of free fatty acids through disrupted neutral lipid recycle in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Metab. Eng. 28, 54-62.

T.J. Schwartz, R.L. Johnson, J. Cardenas, A. Okerlund, N.A. Da Silva, K. Schmidt-Rohr, J.A. Dumesic*. 2014. Engineering catalyst microenvironments for metal-catalyzed hydrogenation of biologically derived platform chemicals. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 12718-12722.

R. Que, A. Mohraz, N.A. Da Silva*, S.-W. Wang*. 2014. Expanding functionality of recombinant human collagen through engineered non-native cysteines. Biomacromolecules. 15, 3540-3549.

J. Cardenas, N.A. Da Silva*. 2014. Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of triacetic acid lactone. Metab. Eng. 25, 194-203.

J.W. Choi, N.A. Da Silva*. 2014. Improving polyketide and fatty acid biosynthesis by engineering of the yeast acetyl-CoA carboxylase. J. Biotechnol. 187, 56-59.

C. Leber, N.A. Da Silva*. 2014. Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the synthesis of short chain fatty acids. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 111, 347-358.

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=2331

Last updated
01/14/2025