Dr. Frances Foong
- Position: Lecturer
- Room: S108, Samuels
- Phone: (+61 2) 9385 3872
- Fax: (+61 2) 9385 1483
- email: f.foong@unsw.edu.au
Professional Experience
- Instructor, Harvard University, Boston, USA
- Project Leader, Xenometrix, Inc. USA
Research Contribution
Dr Foong has expertise in the molecular genetics of cellulolytic bacteria. She has expertise in the isolation and growth of fastidious strict anaerobes from environmental sites and even rumens of cattle and buffaloes and studies in bioconversion of cellulosic material from rice straw, palm oil pressed fibers and other cellulosic biomass into soluble sugars have been performed. Her research broadened into other areas such as in-vitro toxicity assays and development of high-density throughput screening for target bioactive molecules and microorganisms. Her contribution to the research field lies in her intimate knowledge of these bacterial genes and their proteins as well as in the microorganisms which express these proteins. In the last decade, not much emphasis was given to cellulosic biomass degradation and its capacity to convert these carbon sources (1010 tons in existence and 1011 tons synthesised per year) into biofuels and other valuable by-products but now with energy, food shortages and environmental management at a critical stage, most countries will have no alternative but to focus their research in this specific area.
More recently genes from bacteria have been utilised to genetically engineer chimeric proteins for biotechnology applications. In collaboration with the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, we have been designing and developing chimeric proteins and "smart surfaces" membranes for personalised medicine. In a novel application of these cellulase proteins and their domains, we are developing smart surfaces for the immobilisation, enrichment and expansion to a high density of rare stem cells for personalised medicine in small bioreactors. We hope to design and develop chimeric proteins for other applications as well such as diagnostics and reversible biosensors in the field of nanotechnology.
Honours & Awards
- Rotary Foundation International PhD Scholar, 1988-1991
Active Research Projects
- Development of Chimeric Proteins for Biotechnology Applications
- Development of Smart Surfaces Capable of Supporting Stem Cell Enrichment and Expansion
Publications
- Xu, Yin., and Foong, F.C. (2008)
- Characterization of cellulose binding domain from Clostridium cellulovorans Endoglucanase-Xylanase D and its use as a fusion partner for soluble protein expression.
- In Press. J. Biotechnology Available online. DOI information: 10.1016/j.biotec.2008.05.004
- Craig, S. J., Shu, A., Yin Xu, Foong, F.C. and Nordon, R. (2007)
- Chimeric protein for selective cell attachment onto cellulosic substrates.
- J. Biotechnology 121:165-173
- Craig, S. J., Foong, F. and Nordon, R. (2006)
- Engineered proteins containing the cohesin and dockerin domains from Clostridium thermocellum provides a reversible, high affinity interaction for biotechnology applications
- J. Biotechnology 121:165-173
- Yeh, M., Craig, S. J. , Lum, M. G. and Foong, F. (2005)
- Effects of the PT linker region of EngD and HLD of CbpA on solubility, catalytic activity and purification characteristics of EngD-CBDCbpA chimeric proteins from Clostridium cellulovorans
- J. Biotechnology 116: 233-244
- Su, Ping, Henriksson, A., Tandanius, J., Park, J.H., Foong, F. and Dunn, N. (2005)
- Detection and quantification of Bifidobacterium lactis LAFTIB94 in human faecal samples from a consumption trial
- FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 244:99-103