The Hittinger Lab

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Welcome!

The Hittinger Lab uses yeast carbon metabolism as a model for basic bioenergy, biomedical, and evolutionary research. Our research interests and integrated approaches are at the intersection of biodiversity; biochemistry; biotechnology; and functional, ecological, and evolutionary genomics. Ongoing projects are focused on understanding the origin and evolution of aerobic fermentation, yeast ecology and biodiversity, genetic variation in natural and industrial yeasts, genome engineering and synthetic biology, and the metabolism of alternative carbon sources (e.g. galactose, maltose, xylose) that may have bioenergy and brewing applications.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (DEB-1442148 & DEB-1442113) to determine "The Making of Biodiversity Across the Yeast Subphylum."

Welcome to the yH Strain Collection! Since 2011, the Hittinger Lab has provided more than 2,100 strains of yeasts and plasmids to 25 different countries. To provide better access to our expanding collection of yeasts and plasmids to the growing community of academic researchers, we have created a new strain catalogue and shipping service.

Yeasts are diverse! They have more genetic and metabolic diversity than vertebrates (animals with backbones). Over 1,500 species of yeast have been described, and more are being discovered every month.

BlueSky"/

For our first academic bluesky post we're excited to share this story on how a #yeast sugar transporter found a new function. Led by Dr. John Crandall, we dissected how an alpha-glucoside transporter in S. eubayanus evolved to transport maltotriose! #MBE academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

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— HittingerLab (@hittingerlab.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 2:11 PM