Title: Metabolic Engineering of High-value Terpenoid Biosynthesis Pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae 

My master's dissertation focused on the metabolic engineering of microbial cell factories, a branch of synthetic biology. I did my thesis work at a synthetic biology company. We engineered the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to produce a high-value terpenoid. In this project, I assembled genes in yeast-epitope tagging vectors. All genes selected from distinct biogenic sources encode enzymes involved in terpene biosynthesis. The constructed recombinant vectors are incorporated into S. cerevisiae. Then the preliminary screening was done by observing the yeast colonies on a yeast nitrogen-base agar plate to determine whether they produced pigmented terpene or not. Surprisingly, we observed that the transformant colonies appeared coloured, and I ended up completing my thesis work by confirming that the engineered yeast strain produces the terpenoid of my interest. Furthermore, I explored the potential of genetic engineering techniques to enhance the efficiency and productivity of these engineered yeast strains. Overall, I gained hands-on experience in molecular biology techniques such as cloning (infusion and restriction digestion cloning), bacteria and yeast genomic DNA isolation, plasmid DNA isolation, recombinant vector construction, restriction digestion, colony PCR, and analyzing the metabolic profiles of the engineered yeast strains. This research not only deepened my understanding of metabolic engineering principles but also provided valuable insights into the practical applications of metabolic engineering in the production of bioactive compounds, particularly coloured terpenoid compounds.