Heng Chooi

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Heng Chooi

Associate Professor

 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7719-7524

  • The University of Western Australia (M310), 35 Stirling Highway,

    6009 Perth

    Australia

Calculated based on number of publications stored in Pure and citations from PlumX

Personal profile

Biography

Dr Yit-Heng Chooi (PhD, Applied Biology and Biotechnology, RMIT University) is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia. He undertook postdoctoral research at the University of California, Los Angeles (2009–2013), investigating the molecular genetic and biochemical basis of secondary metabolite biosynthesis in fungi. In 2013, he joined the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University after being awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA). He moved to the University of Western Australia in 2015, where he established his research group in fungal chemical synthetic biology.

His research combines fungal genomics, synthetic biology, and enzymology to uncover and engineer novel natural products. His group has identified multiple new biosynthetic pathways and enzymatic mechanisms from fungi, with applications ranging from drug discovery to industrial biomanufacturing. His broader research interests include the roles of fungal metabolites in plant and human/animal pathogenesis, enzyme discovery, and the development of biotechnological platforms for sustainable chemical production.

Dr Chooi was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship in 2016 and an ARC Industry Fellowship in 2023, recognising his leadership in bridging fundamental biosynthetic research with industry innovation in biotechnology and natural-product engineering.

Funding overview

ARC Discovery Project (2020-2023) - Fungal Ribosomally Synthesised and Post-translationally Modified Peptides, Chooi, Y-H, Solomon, PS

Cooperative Research Centre Projects CRC-P (2018-2021) - BioAustralis: Towards the Future, Lacey, E; Page, S; Piggott, AP; Chooi, Y-H

ARC Discovery Project (2017-2019) - Two new phytotoxins in Septoria nodorum blotch: Biosynthesis and functions, Chooi, Y-H, Solomon, PS

ARC Future Fellowship (2016-2019) - Uncovering the Hidden Secondary Metabolite Biosynthetic Potential of Fungi, Chooi, Y-H

ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) (2013-2015) - A Synthetic Biology Approach for Mining the Secondary Metabolomes of Fungal Phytopathogens, Chooi, Y-H

Current projects

PhD & Honours Research Opportunities:

1. http://www.science.uwa.edu.au/future-students/postgrad/opportunities/chemistry/metabolites

2. http://www.science.uwa.edu.au/future-students/postgrad/opportunities/chemistry/synthetic

3. http://www.science.uwa.edu.au/future-students/postgrad/opportunities/chemistry/genome-mining

Research

- Secondary metabolite biosynthesis

- Genome mining of bioactive natural products

- Fungal pathogen-host interactions

- Synthetic biology of antibiotic production

- Biocalytic enzyme discovery

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Industry keywords

  • Biotechnology
  • Drug Discovery
  • Agriculture and Food

Research expertise keywords

  • Secondary metabolite biosynthesis
  • Synthetic biology
  • Enzyme mechanism
  • Natural product chemistry
  • Fungal pathogen-host interactions
  • Microbial genetics

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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  • Actinobacteria Warfare Against the Plant Pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum: 2,4,6-Trimethylpyridine Identified as a Bacterial Derived Volatile With Antifungal Activity

    Belt, K., Flematti, G. R., Bohman, B., Chooi, H., Roper, M. M., Dow, L., Truman, A. W., Wilkinson, B., Singh, K. B. & Thatcher, L. F., Mar 2025, In: Microbial Biotechnology. 18, 3, 15 p., e70082.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

    Open Access
    4 Citations (Scopus)

  • An expanded database of high-resolution MS/MS spectra for lichen-derived natural products

    Bracegirdle, J., Elix, J. A., Mawalagedera, U., Chooi, Y.-H. & Gueidan, C., Dec 2025, In: Scientific Data. 12, 1, p. 244 1 p., 244.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Data article › peer-review

    Open Access
    1 Citation (Scopus)

  • MIBiG 4.0: advancing biosynthetic gene cluster curation through global collaboration

    Zdouc, M. M., Blin, K., Louwen, N. L. L., Navarro, J., Loureiro, C., Bader, C. D., Bailey, C. B., Barra, L., Booth, T. J., Bozhüyük, K. A. J., Cediel-Becerra, J. D. D., Charlop-Powers, Z., Chevrette, M. G., Chooi, Y. H., D’Agostino, P. M., de Rond, T., Pup, E. D., Duncan, K. R., Gu, W. & Hanif, N. & 268 others, Helfrich, E. J. N., Jenner, M., Katsuyama, Y., Korenskaia, A., Krug, D., Libis, V., Lund, G. A., Mantri, S., Morgan, K. D., Owen, C., Phan, C. S., Philmus, B., Reitz, Z. L., Robinson, S. L., Singh, K. S., Teufel, R., Tong, Y., Tugizimana, F., Ulanova, D., Winter, J. M., Aguilar, C., Akiyama, D. Y., Al-Salihi, S. A. A., Alanjary, M., Alberti, F., Aleti, G., Alharthi, S. A., Arias Rojo, M. Y., Arishi, A. A., Augustijn, H. E., Avalon, N. E., Avelar-Rivas, J. A., Axt, K. K., Barbieri, H. B., Barbosa, J. C. J., Segato, L. G. B., Barrett, S. E., Baunach, M., Beemelmanns, C., Beqaj, D., Berger, T., Bernaldo-Agüero, J., Bettenbühl, S. M., Bielinski, V. A., Biermann, F., Borges, R. M., Borriss, R., Breitenbach, M., Bretscher, K. M., Brigham, M. W., Buedenbender, L., Bulcock, B. W., Cano-Prieto, C., Capela, J., Carrion, V. J., Carter, R. S., Castelo-Branco, R., Castro-Falcón, G., Chagas, F. O., Charria-Girón, E., Chaudhri, A. A., Chaudhry, V., Choi, H., Choi, Y., Choupannejad, R., Chromy, J., Chue Donahey, M. S., Collemare, J., Connolly, J. A., Creamer, K. E., Crüsemann, M., Cruz, A. A., Cumsille, A., Dallery, J. F., Damas-Ramos, L. C., Damiani, T., de Kruijff, M., Martín, B. D., Sala, G. D., Dillen, J., Doering, D. T., Dommaraju, S. R., Durusu, S., Egbert, S., Ellerhorst, M., Faussurier, B., Fetter, A., Feuermann, M., Fewer, D. P., Foldi, J., Frediansyah, A., Garza, E. A., Gavriilidou, A., Gentile, A., Gerke, J., Gerstmans, H., Gomez-Escribano, J. P., González-Salazar, L. A., Grayson, N. E., Greco, C., Gris Gomez, J. E., Guerra, S., Flores, S. G., Gurevich, A., Gutiérrez-García, K., Hart, L., Haslinger, K., He, B., Hebra, T., Hemmann, J. L., Hindra, H., Höing, L., Holland, D. C., Holme, J. E., Horch, T., Hrab, P., Hu, J., Huynh, T. H., Hwang, J. Y., Iacovelli, R., Iftime, D., Iorio, M., Jayachandran, S., Jeong, E., Jing, J., Jung, J. J., Kakumu, Y., Kalkreuter, E., Kang, K. B., Kang, S., Kim, W., Kim, G. J., Kim, H., Kim, H. U., Klapper, M., Koetsier, R. A., Kollten, C., Kovács, Á. T., Kriukova, Y., Kubach, N., Kunjapur, A. M., Kushnareva, A. K., Kust, A., Lamber, J., Larralde, M., Larsen, N. J., Launay, A. P., Le, N. T. H., Lebeer, S., Lee, B. T., Lee, K., Lev, K. L., Li, S. M., Li, Y. X., Licona-Cassani, C., Lien, A., Liu, J., Lopez, J. A. V., Machushynets, N. V., Macias, M. I., Mahmud, T., Maleckis, M., Martinez-Martinez, A. M., Mast, Y., Maximo, M. F., McBride, C. M., McLellan, R. M., Bhatt, K. M., Melkonian, C., Merrild, A., Metsä-Ketelä, M., Mitchell, D. A., Müller, A. V., Nguyen, G. S., Nguyen, H. T., Niedermeyer, T. H. J., O’Hare, J. H., Ossowicki, A., Ostash, B. O., Otani, H., Padva, L., Paliyal, S., Pan, X., Panghal, M., Parade, D. S., Park, J., Parra, J., Rubio, M. P., Pham, H. T., Pidot, S. J., Piel, J., Pourmohsenin, B., Rakhmanov, M., Ramesh, S., Rasmussen, M. H., Rego, A., Reher, R., Rice, A. J., Rigolet, A., Romero-Otero, A., Rosas-Becerra, L. R., Rosiles, P. Y., Rutz, A., Ryu, B., Sahadeo, L. A., Saldanha, M., Salvi, L., Sánchez-Carvajal, E., Santos-Medellin, C., Sbaraini, N., Schoellhorn, S. M., Schumm, C., Sehnal, L., Selem, N., Shah, A. D., Shishido, T. K., Sieber, S., Silviani, V., Singh, G., Singh, H., Sokolova, N., Sonnenschein, E. C., Sosio, M., Sowa, S. T., Steffen, K., Stegmann, E., Streiff, A. B., Strüder, A., Surup, F., Svenningsen, T., Sweeney, D., Szenei, J., Tagirdzhanov, A., Tan, B., Tarnowski, M. J., Terlouw, B. R., Rey, T., Thome, N. U., Ortega, L. R. T., Tørring, T., Trindade, M., Truman, A. W., Tvilum, M., Udwary, D. W., Ulbricht, C., Vader, L., van Wezel, G. P., Walmsley, M., Warnasinghe, R., Weddeling, H. G., Weir, A. N. M., Williams, K., Williams, S. E., Witte, T. E., Wood Rocca, S. M., Yamada, K., Yang, D., Yang, D., Yu, J., Zhou, Z., Ziemert, N., Zimmer, L., Zimmermann, A., Zimmermann, C., van der Hooft, J. J. J., Linington, R. G., Weber, T. & Medema, M. H., 6 Jan 2025, In: Nucleic Acids Research. 53, D1, p. D678-D690

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

    Open Access
    69 Citations (Scopus)

  • Self-Resistance Gene-Guided Discovery of the Molecular Basis for Biosynthesis of the Fatty Acid Synthase Inhibitor Cerulenin

    Shang, Z., Arishi, A. A., Wu, C., Lao, F., Gilchrist, C. L. M., Moggach, S. A., Lacey, E., Piggott, A. M. & Chooi, Y. H., 10 Jan 2025, In: Angewandte Chemie - International Edition. 64, 2, 11 p., e202414941.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

    7 Citations (Web of Science)

  • SpectroIBIS: Automated Data Processing for Multiconformer Quantum Chemical Spectroscopic Calculations

    Bulcock, B. W., Chooi, Y. H. & Flematti, G. R., 28 Feb 2025, In: Journal of Natural Products. 88, 2, 7 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)
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View all 31 grants
  • 1 Public outreach/ public event