Tina Jeoh, Assistant Professor

Education

Ph. D., Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 2004

M. S. , Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1999

Current Research

Saprophytic microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria produce a variety of enzymes that specifically breakdown the structural polysaccharides in plant cell walls. Industrially, these enzymes play a key role in the conversion of agricultural residues, wood wastes or energy crops to biofuels and other bio-based products. Dr. Jeoh’s research focuses on the interactions of such enzymes with the various components of the plant cell wall and on elucidating the mechanism of synergy between the enzymes during saccharification. Current research areas include: the use of model plant cell walls generated by the bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinus to study synergistic interactions between cellulases as well as between cellulases and other glycosyl hydrolases; understanding the effect of the changes in plant cell wall characteristics post-thermochemical pretreatment on the accessibility of enzymes to the structural polysaccharides; and the study of detailed kinetic mechanisms of cellulose hydrolysis by cellulases.

Representative Recent Publications

Jeoh, T., Michener, W., Himmel, M. E., Decker, S. R., Adney, W. S. 2008. Implications of cellobiohydrolase glycosylation for use in biomass conversion. Biotechnology for Biofuels 1:10.

Jeoh T., Ishizawa, C. I., Davis, M. F., Himmel, M. E., Adney, W. S. and Johnson, D. K. 2007. Cellulase Digestibility of Pretreated Biomass is Limited by Cellulose Accessibility. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 98(1): 112 – 122.

Jeoh, T., Wilson, D. B., Walker, L. P. 2006. Synergistic Mechanism of Binary Mixtures of Thermobifida fusca Cel5A, Cel6B and Cel9A on Cellulose. Biotechnology Progress 22(1):270-277.

Jeoh, T., Baker, J. O., Ali, M. K., Himmel, M. E., and Adney, W. S. 2005. β-D-Glucosidase Reaction Kinetics from Isothermal Titration Microcalorimetry. Analytical Biochemistry 347(2):244-253. Jeoh, T., Wilson, D. B., Walker, L. P. 2002. Cooperative and Competitive Binding in Synergistic Mixtures of Thermobifida fusca Cellulases Cel5A, Cel6B and Cel9A. Biotechnology Progress 18(4): 760-769.

Jeoh, T., Agblevor, F. A. 2001. Characterization and Fermentation of Steam Exploded Cotton Gin Waste. Biomass and Bioenergy 21:109-120.

Membership in Professional Societies

American Chemical Society

Institute of Biological Engineers

American Society for Engineering Education

Research Support

University of California New Faculty Startup Funds