Cynthia Sun

Cynthia Sun

Team Leader and Principal Scientist

Biotechnologies

Leading protein biotechnology research

I'm the Team Leader and Principal Research Scientist in the Advanced Protein Technology team within the Biotechnologies group. I have deep experience and expertise in the field of biochemistry around biotransformation, protein extraction, glycoenzymes and bioassays.

Working alongside a team of exceptionally talented individuals is a core motivation for me. The team constantly receive interesting yet challenging R&D project requests from industrial clients and has delivered many successful projects to our clients’ satisfaction. My understanding of the complexities of proteins and enzymes enables me to lead the development of many innovative biotechnological solutions.

Our team has also worked repeatedly on R&D contracts with international companies for the development of new drugs and alternative proteins. In the areas of recombinant protein engineering and scale-up downstream purification processing, we have been working with biotech companies from NZ and overseas in the emerging synthetic biology industry.

As a member of the NZ Institute of Food Science and Technologies, I actively engage myself with fellow professionals in the field and stay updated with the latest trends and breakthroughs in the industry.

Throughout my career, I have been committed to research excellence for advancing my expertise in protein science and their industrial applications.

Areas of expertise
  • Biochemistry
  • Process development for protein/enzyme extraction
  • Biotransformation including both synthesis and hydrolysis, especially applications with glycoenzymes, proteases and lipid related enzymes.
  • Characterisation of enzymes and proteins
  • Bioassay development.
  • Bioassay-guided bioactive product development
Education
  • PhD in Biochemistry, The University of Auckland, 2000
Memberships and awards
  • Member of NZ Institute of Food Science and Technologies
Selected publications
  • Biotransformation of flavonoid conjugates with fatty acids and evaluations of their functionalities, Sun, C.Q.; Johnson, K.D.; Wong, H.; Foo L.Y., Front. Pharmacol. - Ethnopharmacology, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00759.
  • Recombinant, Truncated B. circulans Keratanase-II: Description and Characterisation of a Novel Enzyme for Use in Measuring Urinary Keratan Sulphate Levels via LC-MS/MS in Morquio A Syndrome, Steward, M.; Berezovskaya, Y.; Zhou, H.; Shediac, R.; Sun, C.; Miller, N.; Rendle, P., Clinical Biochemistry, 2015, 14(12). DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2015.03.024.
  • A new assay for determining ganglioside sialyltransferase activities in ovine and bovine organs, Sun, C.Q.; Hubl, U.; Hoefakker, P.; Vasudevamurthy, M.K.; Johnson, K.D., PLOS One, 2014. 10.1371/journal.pone.0094206.
  • Biotransformation using recombinant CMP sialic acid synthetase and α-2, 6-sialyltransferase: enzymatic synthesis of sialosides, Hubl, U.; Sun, C.; Zhang, S.; Watt, D.; Kim, S.; Ryan, J.; Johnson, K., Ameri. J. Biochem and Biotech., 2012, 8(4), 288-303. DOI : 10.3844/ajbbsp.2012.288.303
  • The products from lipase-catalysed hydrolysis of bovine milkfat kill Helicobacter pylori in vitro, Sun, C.Q.; O’Connor, C.J.; MacGibbon, A.K,H.; Roberton, A.M., FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 2007, 49(2), 235-242.
Popular Topics