Faculty & Staff
Yu, Hang (Hank)
Yu, Hang (Hank)
Title:Assistant Professor
Research Direction:Environmental Microbiology
Department:College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University
Email：hyu@urban.pku.edu.cn
Self Introduction
Research Interests
・ Dissecting natural microbial community dynamics and biogeochemical cycles
・ Investigating microbial and ecosystem responses to our changing environment
・ Exploring and utilizing the extreme microbial genetic and function potentials
Research Projects
・ Biological oxidation of methane
・ Microbial metal metabolism
・ Microbial interactions and symbiosis
Admission and Job Opportunities
Currently looking for motivated masters and PhD students (start in Fall 2025), and postdocs/research staff. Please contact me for details and join us!
Education
2006.09-2010.05, B.Sc., Honors in Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia (Advisor: William W. Mohn)
2011.09-2017.06, M.Sc. and Ph.D., Environmental Science and Engineering, California Institute of Technology (Advisor: Victoria J. Orphan)
Work Experience
2010.06-2010.12, Research Assistant, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (Advisors: Sebastian Sudek and Alexandra Z. Worden)
2017.08-2020.02, Postdoc, California Institute of Technology (Advisors: Victoria J. Orphan and Jared R. Leadbetter)
2020.07-2022.06, Postdoc, University of Southern California (Advisor: Moh Y. El-Naggar)
2022.12-, Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Geography and Natural Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University
Research Direction
Environmental Microbiology, Microbial Ecology, Geomicrobiology
Publications
Publications
Full publication list: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=3no8Uy8AAAAJ
Yu, H., Speth, D.R., Connon, S.A., Goudeau, D., Malmstrom, R.R., Woyke, T., and Orphan V.J. (2022) Community structure and microbial associations in sediment-free methanotrophic enrichment cultures from a marine methane seep. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. e02109-21.
Heryakusuma, C., Susanti, D., Yu, H., Li, Z., Purwantini, E., Hettich, R.L., Orphan, V.J., and Mukhopadhyay, B. (2022) A reduced F420-dependent nitrite reductase (FNiR) in an anaerobic methanotrophic archaeon. Journal of Bacteriology. e00078-22.
Yu, H., Chadwick, G.L., Lingappa, U.F., and Leadbetter J.R. (2022) Comparative genomics on cultivated and uncultivated, freshwater and marine “Candidatus Manganitrophaceae” species implies their worldwide reach in manganese chemolithoautotrophy. mBio. 13 (2), e03421-21.
Chadwick, G. L., Skennerton, C. T., Laso-Pérez, R., Leu, A. O., Speth, D. R., Yu, H., Morgan-Lang, C., Hatzenpichler, R., Goudeau, D., & Malmstrom, R. (2022). Comparative genomics reveals electron transfer and syntrophic mechanisms differentiating methanotrophic and methanogenic archaea. Plos Biology 20 (1): e3001508.
Yu, H., Skennerton, C.T., Chadwick, G.L., Leu, A.O., Aoki, M., Tyson, G.W., and Orphan V.J. (2022) Sulfate differentially stimulates but is not respired by diverse anaerobic methanotrophic archaea. The ISME Journal 16, 168–177.
Yu, H., Leadbetter, J.R. (2020) Bacterial chemolithoautotrophy via manganese oxidation. Nature 583, 453–458. (Cover)
Yu, H., Susanti, D., McGlynn, S.E., Skennerton, C.T., Chourey, K., Iyer, R., Scheller, S., Tavormina, P., Hettich, R.L., Mukhopadhyay, B., and Orphan, V.J. (2018) Comparative genomics and proteomic analysis of assimilatory sulfate reduction pathways in anaerobic methanotrophic archaea. Frontiers in Microbiology. 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02917
Scheller, S., Yu, H., Chadwick, G.L., McGlynn, S.E., and Orphan, V.J. (2016) Artificial electron acceptors decouple archaeal methane oxidation from sulfate reduction. Science 351: 703–707.
van Baren, M.J., Bachy, C., Reistetter, E.N., Purvine, S.O., Grimwood, J., Sudek, S., Yu, H., Poirier, C., Deerinck, T.J., Kuo, A.,
Grigoriev, I.V., Wong, C., Smith, R.D., Callister, S.J., Wei, C., Schmutz, J., and Worden, A.Z. (2016) Evidence-based green algal genomics reveals marine diversity and ancestral characteristics of land plants. BMC Genomics 17: 267.
Glass, J.B., Yu, H., Steele, J.A., Dawson, K.S., Sun, S., Chourey, K., Pan, C., Hettich, R.L., Orphan, V.J. (2014) Geochemical, metagenomic and metaproteomic insights into trace metal utilization by methane-oxidizing microbial consortia in sulphidic marine sediments. Environmental Microbiology 6, 1592-1611.
Hartmann, M., Howes, C.G., VanInsberghe, D., Yu, H., Bachar, D., Christen, R., Nilsson, R.H., Hallam, S.J. and Mohn, W.W. (2012) Significant and persistent impact of timber harvesting on soil microbial communities in Northern coniferous forests. The ISME Journal 6, 2199–2218.
Patents
Scheller, S., Orphan, V. J. and Yu, H. (2017). Methane oxidation methods and compositions. United States Patent No. US20170107479A1.
