The group is led by Prof. Pedro Saa who is a Faculty member of the Department of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering and the Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC). Our research interests include genome-scale metabolic networks reconstruction, analysis and design, metabolic modelling and engineering, and bioprocess and biosystems optimization. Our main goal is to develop novel computational tools for re-designing and optimizing cellular metabolism for both fundamental and applied work. Our Lab has a number of research opportunities for domestic and international students. Please refer to the contact details on the footpage for more information.

Research interests

• Metabolic Modeling

• Computational Systems Biotechnology

• Bioprocess and Biosystems Optimization

• Statistical Learning

Current projects

• Basal Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (2021-2031). Associate Researcher

• Open Seed Fund UC-NU No. OSF2022_ (2022-2024). Model-guided experimental design for the optimization of cell-free enzymatic systems. Principal Investigator

• Open Seed Fund UC-UQ No. OSF2021_00193 (2021-2023). A novel sampling framework for exploring the feasible joint space of nonequilibrium thermodynamics and metabolic fluxes. Principal Investigator

• FONDECYT Regular No. 1210346 (2021-2024). Sustainable production of mealybug pheromones using engineered biological systems. Associate Investigator

• FONDECYT Regular No. 119074 (2019-2023). Identification and modeling of cross-feeding interactions in the gut microbiome for designing microbial communities. Associate Investigator

Past projects

• FONDECYT Iniciación No. 11190871 (2019-2022). A general Bayesian framework for leveraging existing kinetic data and thermodynamic constraints for constructing accurate models of cellular metabolism. Principal Investigator