Faculty Directory
Ashty Karim

Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Contact

2145 Sheridan Road
Tech
Evanston, IL 60208-3109

Email Ashty Karim

Website

Karim Lab Website

Centers

Center for Synthetic Biology

Departments

Chemical and Biological Engineering

Education

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University

B.S. Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

B.S. Cell & Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin


Research Interests

The Karim Lab develops molecules, systems, and processes to enable global sustainability. Climate change is the defining challenge of our time, calling for urgent innovations in sustainability that are useful across geographies and economies and can operate at scale. Developing integrated molecular, systems, and process level capabilities, we bring a new vision of cell-free bioprocess engineering for climate change mitigation and adaptation. A core feature of our group is defining how we strategically use waste as substrates key to our energy future. Equipped with a holistic approach to biotechnology, our research is at the frontier of expanding the scope, scale, and impact of cell-free manufacturing.

 

Our research focuses on how we can capture and convert any pollutant, anywhere. Towards this goal, my lab operates across the molecular, system, and process scales to enable novel bioprocesses for climate change mitigation and adaptation. We are integrating synthetic biology and bioprocess engineering by mixing cell-free systems, metabolic engineering, artificial intelligence, and additive manufacturing—working together to address scientific and technological gaps in engineering biology for sustainability. We have projects in the lab focused on increasing our ability to biorecover resources from waste, biorecycle materials, and biocapture carbon. The ability to sequester and degrade pollutants through biological processes will significantly impact all industries, people, and the planet.



Selected Publications

  • Willi, Jessica A.; Karim, Ashty S.; Jewett, Michael Christopher, Cell-Free Translation Quantification via a Fluorescent Minihelix, ACS synthetic biology (2024).
  • Hunt, Andrew C.; Vögeli, Bastian; Hassan, Ahmed O.; Guerrero, Laura; Kightlinger, Weston; Yoesep, Danielle J.; Krüger, Antje; DeWinter, Madison; Diamond, Michael S.; Karim, Ashty S.; Jewett, Michael C., A rapid cell-free expression and screening platform for antibody discovery, Nature communications (2023).
  • Yi, Xiunan; Rasor, Blake J.; Boadi, Nathalie; Louie, Katherine; Northen, Trent R.; Karim, Ashty S.; Jewett, Michael C.; Alper, Hal S., Establishing a versatile toolkit of flux enhanced strains and cell extracts for pathway prototyping, Metabolic Engineering (2023).
  • Jung, Jaeyoung K.; Rasor, Blake J.; Rybnicky, Grant A.; Silverman, Adam D.; Standeven, Janet; Kuhn, Robert; Granito, Teresa; Ekas, Holly M.; Wang, Brenda M.; Karim, Ashty S.; Lucks, Julius B.; Jewett, Michael C., At-Home, Cell-Free Synthetic Biology Education Modules for Transcriptional Regulation and Environmental Water Quality Monitoring, ACS synthetic biology (2023).
  • DeWinter, Madison A.; Thames, Ariel Helms; Guerrero, Laura; Kightlinger, Weston; Karim, Ashty S.; Jewett, Michael Christopher, Point-of-Care Peptide Hormone Production Enabled by Cell-Free Protein Synthesis, ACS synthetic biology (2023).
  • Rasor, Blake J.; Karim, Ashty S.; Alper, Hal S.; Jewett, Michael C., Cell Extracts from Bacteria and Yeast Retain Metabolic Activity after Extended Storage and Repeated Thawing, ACS synthetic biology (2023).
  • Martin, Jacob P.; Rasor, Blake J.; DeBonis, Jonathon; Karim, Ashty S.; Jewett, Michael C.; Tyo, Keith E.J.; Broadbelt, Linda J., A dynamic kinetic model captures cell-free metabolism for improved butanol production, Metabolic Engineering (2023).
  • Rasor, Blake J.; Chirania, Payal; Rybnicky, Grant A.; Giannone, Richard J.; Engle, Nancy L.; Tschaplinski, Timothy J.; Karim, Ashty S.; Hettich, Robert L.; Jewett, Michael C., Mechanistic Insights into Cell-Free Gene Expression through an Integrated -Omics Analysis of Extract Processing Methods, ACS synthetic biology (2023).