The International Metabolic Engineering Society (IMES) is proud to announce that Dr. Hal S. Alper, professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has been named the recipient of the 2025 International Metabolic Engineering Award. This prestigious honor recognizes a leader in the field whose groundbreaking work continues to shape the future of metabolic engineering and its real-world applications.
Dr. Alper is known for pioneering research that merges synthetic biology, protein engineering, and directed evolution to advance sustainable solutions for global challenges鈥攆rom bioproduction and clean energy to materials science and healthcare. His lab鈥檚 innovative work on fungal systems opens doors to chemical overproduction, integration with living materials, plastic degradation, and even space-based manufacturing.
In advance of his award lecture at Metabolic Engineering 16 (ME16), we caught up with Hal to hear more about his work, the future of the field, and what makes the ME community so special.
Can you tell us about the work that led to winning the award?
Our work aims to push the boundaries of metabolic engineering by merging tools from synthetic biology, protein engineering, and directed/adaptive evolution. A primary focus within the lab is on the engineering of fungal systems for varied applications, including chemical overproduction, integration with living materials, plastic degradation, and space bioproduction. Through this work we are addressing global challenges, including sustainability, human health, circular bio-economies, and clean energy/energy security.
How do you think this work, and the larger metabolic engineering community, will help to solve broad societal challenges?
Metabolic engineering has the capacity to usher in a new era for the sustainable bioproduction of chemicals, fuels, pharmaceuticals/nutraceuticals, materials, and other specialty chemicals. Beyond this, the deployment of engineered cells is important for advancing the fields of health, agricultural, and remote synthesis applications. This approach can help tackle the broad societal challenges of food, water, and resource scarcity.
Outside of your technical career, you鈥檝e invested yourself in developing the metabolic engineering community through organizations like the International Metabolic Engineering Society. Can you tell us more about your passion for this community?
The Metabolic Engineering conference series is more than just a technical conference鈥攊t鈥檚 a community. To this day, this remains the main conference that I look forward to with as much passion and energy as I did when I attended my first ME conference as a graduate student. The community, friends, and science are second to none. This is why I am so passionate about this society.
You鈥檒l be delivering your award lecture at Metabolic Engineering 16. What value do you see in this conference for prominent metabolic engineers?
The ME conference series is the premier conference for our field. This is the place to see and showcase the latest advances as well as meet with so many members of the field鈥攂oth academic and industrial. I am excited to be able to contribute to a talk as a complement to this great conference schedule.
Join us at ME16
Don鈥檛 miss the chance to hear Dr. Alper鈥檚 award lecture and connect with a global community of metabolic engineering leaders at Metabolic Engineering 16, taking place June 15鈥�19, 2025, in Copenhagen, Denmark.