Address & Contact Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 7000 East Avenue, L-452 Livermore CA, 94550 diep5@llnl.gov | Webex: 925 422 7086

Education
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, 2022
B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Waterloo, 2017
iGEM Alumni 2015, 2016 

Research
Addressing metal mining challenges with applied metallobiochemistry and synthetic biology, augmented by high-throughput technologies, electronics, and rapid fabrication.  

1. Diep, P., Kell, B., Yakunin, A., Hilfinger, A., and Mahadevan, K. 2022. Quantifying metal ion specificity of the nickel-binding protein CcNikZ-II from Clostridium carboxidivorans in the presence of competing metal ions. Analytical Biochemistry (accepted). [Link]
2. Diep, P., Stogios, P., Evdokimova, E., Savchenko, A., Mahadevan, R., and Yakunin, A. 2022. Ni(II) binding affinity and specificity of solute binding proteins: the importance of the double His motif and variable loop revealed by structural and mutational studies. bioRxiv. [Link]
3. Diep, P., Shen, L., Wiesner, J., Mykytczuk, N., Papangelakis, V., Yakunin, A., and Mahadevan, R. 2022. Engineered nickel bioaccumulation in Escherichia coli by NikABCDE transporter and metallothionein overexpression. Engineering in Life Sciences [Link]
4. Chen, J., Liu, Y., Diep, P., and Mahadevan, R. 2022. Harnessing synthetic biology for sustainable biomining with Fe/S-oxidizing microbes. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. [Link]
5. Chen, J., Liu, Y., Diep, P., and Mahadevan, R. 2022. Genetic engineering of extremely acidophilic Acidithiobacillus species for biomining: progress and perspectives. Journal of Hazardous Materials. [Link]
6. Diep, P., Cadavid, J., Yakunin, A., McGuigan, A., and Mahadevan, R. 2022. REVOLVER: A low-cost automated protein purifier based on parallel preparative gravity column workflows. HardwareX, 11, p.e00291. [Link]
7. Raj, K., Venayak, N., Diep, P., Golla, S., Yakunin, A., and Mahadevan, R. 2021. Automation assisted anaerobic phenotyping for metabolic engineering. Microbial Cell Factories, 20(1), p.1–16. [Link]
8. Chen, J., Liu, Y., Diep, P., and Mahadevan, R. 2021. Genomic analysis of a newly isolated Acidithiobacillus ferridurans JAGS strain reveals its adaptation to acid mine drainage. MDPI Minerals, 11(1), p.74. [Link]
9. Liu, Y., Chen, J., Khusnutdinova, A., Correia, K., Diep, P., Batyrova, K., Nemr, K., Flick, R., Stogios, P., Yakunin, A., and others 2020. A novel C-terminal degron identified in bacterial aldehyde decarbonylases using directed evolution. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 13(1), p.1–11. [Link]
10. Diep, P., Mahadevan, R., and Yakunin, A. 2020. A microplate screen to estimate metal-binding affinities of metalloproteins. Analytical Biochemistry, 609, p.113836. [Link]
11. Chen, J., Liu, Y., Diep, P., Jo, A., Nesbø, C., Edwards, E., Papangelakis, V., and Mahadevan, R. 2020. Complete genome sequence of Acidithiobacillus ferridurans JAGS, isolated from acidic mine drainage. Microbial Resource Announcements, 9(13). [Link]
12. Diep, P., Mahadevan, R., and Yakunin, A. 2018. Heavy metal removal by bioaccumulation using genetically engineered microorganisms. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 6. [Link]

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