Nan Hao

Research Interests

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Synthetic Biology

Dr Nan Hao

Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

College of Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am a lecture in Biotechnology based in the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Science, School of Biological Sciences. My research interests lie in the broad fields of Synthetic Biology, with a focus on combining biochemical studies with mathematical modeling to better understand the "design" features of the genome.

My work aims to advance fundamental knowledge by investigating widespread but poorly understood processes in gene transcription, including transcriptional interference, transcriptional roadblocking, feedback control, and DNA looping—mechanisms that are likely to play key roles in the regulation of gene expression.

In addition, I have a strong interest in bacteriophages and the use of phage components in synthetic biology and therapeutic applications. I lead a phage discovery program focused on isolating and characterizing novel phages from environmental sources as a potential strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

 


The Diverse World of Bacteriophages

 

Projects available

  • Phage Hunting from Every Corner: Discovering Microbial Predators to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
  • Phage Engineering: Reprogramming Bacteriophages for New Functions and Applications
  • Phages Unpacked: Dissecting Viral Tools for Precision Therapy

Date Position Institution name
2024 - ongoing Lecturer University of Adelaide
2017 - 2024 Synthetic Biology Future Science Fellow (Level B) University of Adelaide and CSIRO joint appointment
2017 - 2017 ARC DECRA Fellow (Level B) University of Adelaide, Adelaide
2015 - 2016 ARC DECRA Fellow (Level A) University of Adelaide, Adelaide
2012 - 2014 Postdoc Research Fellow (Level A) University of Adelaide, Adelaide
2007 - 2008 Research Assistant University of Adelaide, Adelaide
2006 - 2007 Research Assistant University of Adelaide, Adelaide

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2021 Award ECR Presentation Award ASBMB Adelaide Protein Group (APG) Australia A$1000
2019 Award ECR poster award Synthetic Biology Australasia (SBA) Australia A$200
2019 Award YSP travel fellowship, 27th FAOBMB & 44th MSBMB Conference Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemist & Molecular Biologist Malaysia A$3000
2017 Research Award Executive Dean's Order of Merit, Daniel Walker Medal for Early Career Research Excellence The University of Adelaide Australia -
2017 Achievement Finalist for ECR presentation ASBMB Adelaide Protein Group (APG) Australia -
2017 Invitation Invited Seminar Presentation Epigenetics Consortium of South Australia and Adelaide RNA Special Interest Group Seminar Australia -
2017 Invitation Invited Pitch US Department of Defence Representative Australia -
2016 Award Best presentation/poster in the ECR category OCE Cutting Edge Conference in Synthetic Biology Australia A$ 200
2015 Invitation Invited Speaker School of Biological Sciences Inaugural Research Day - -
2015 Fellowship ASBMB travel fellowship ASBMB Australia A$ 3000
2012 Award Poster Award ASBMB ComBio conference Australia A$ 200
2012 Research Award Postgraduate Academic Achievement Award The University of Adelaide Australia A$ 500
2012 Award Writing up Award The University of Adelaide Australia A$ 3000
2011 Award Chinese government award for outstanding self-financed students abroad China Scholarship Council China US$ 6000
2011 Award Poster prize ASBMB Adelaide Protein Group Australia A$ 200
2010 Achievement Finalist ASBMB Adelaide Protein Group Student Event Australia -
2008 Scholarship Adelaide Graduate Fee Scholarship - PhD scholarship The University of Adelaide - -
2007 Award The Brian & Heather Forster Prize in Biochemistry - Top Honours The University of Adelaide Australia -
2005 Scholarship Summer Vacation Scholarship The University of Adelaide Australia -

Language Competency
Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review

Date Institution name Country Title
2008 - 2012 The University of Adelaide Australia PhD in Biochemistry
2007 - 2007 The University of Adelaide Australia B. Sc. (Honours, First class)
2004 - 2006 The University of Adelaide Australia B. Sc. (Biomedical Science)

Year Citation
2025 Hao, N., Vreugde, S., Fitridge, R., & Shearwin, K. E. (2025). Complete genome sequence of Anaerococcus sp. strain AH8042_DFU013_CI05 isolated from a diabetes-related foot ulcer.. Microbiology Resource Announcements, 14(4), e0132624-1-e0132624-4.
DOI
2023 Hao, N., Donnelly, A. J., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2023). When push comes to shove - RNA polymerase and DNA-bound protein roadblocks. Biophysical Reviews, 15(3), 355-366.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC4
2021 Hao, N., Sullivan, A. E., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. B. (2021). The loopometer: a quantitative in vivo assay for DNA-looping proteins. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(7), 1-16.
DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2021 Hao, N., Chen, Q., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2021). The pIT5 Plasmid Series, an Improved Toolkit for Repeated Genome Integration in E. coli. ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(7), 1633-1639.
DOI Scopus4 WoS5 Europe PMC4
2021 Hao, N., Agnew, D., Krishna, S., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2021). Analysis of infection time courses shows CII levels determine the frequency of lysogeny in phage 186. Pharmaceuticals, 14(10), 998-1-998-14.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC4
2019 Hoffmann, S. A., Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Arndt, K. M. (2019). Characterizing transcriptional interference between converging genes in bacteria. ACS Synthetic Biology, 8(3), 466-473.
DOI Scopus11 WoS10 Europe PMC11
2019 Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. B. (2019). Positive and negative control of enhancer-promoter interactions by other DNA loops generates specificity and tunability. Cell Reports, 26(9), 2419-2433.e1–e3.
DOI Scopus22 WoS22 Europe PMC21
2019 Hao, N., Crooks, M. T., Palmer, A. C., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2019). RNA polymerase pausing at a protein roadblock can enhance transcriptional interference by promoter occlusion. FEBS Letters, 593(9), 903-917.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC6
2017 Hao, N., Palmer, A. C., Dodd, I. B., & Shearwin, K. E. (2017). Directing traffic on DNA - How transcription factors relieve or induce transcriptional interference. Transcription, 8(2), 120-125.
DOI Scopus19 WoS19 Europe PMC17
2017 Hao, N., Sneppen, K., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2017). Efficient chromosomal-scale DNA looping in Escherichia coli using multiple DNA-looping elements. Nucleic Acids Research, 45(9), 5074-5085.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC6
2017 Hao, N., & Shearwin, K. E. (2017). Hidden secrets of sigma54 promoters revealed. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 42(12), 931-932.
DOI
2017 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2017). Programmable DNA looping using engineered bivalent dCas9 complexes. Nature Communications, 8(1), 1-12.
DOI Scopus65 WoS62 Europe PMC58
2016 Silginer, M., Burghardt, I., Gramatzki, D., Bunse, L., Leske, H., Rushing, E., . . . Roth, P. (2016). The aryl hydrocarbon receptor links integrin signaling to the TGF-β pathway. Oncogene, 35(25), 3260-3271.
DOI Scopus54 WoS47 Europe PMC47
2016 Hao, N., Palmer, A., Ahlgren-Berg, A., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2016). The role of repressor kinetics in relief of transcriptional interference between convergent promoters. Nucleic Acids Research, 44(14), 6625-6638.
DOI Scopus24 WoS20 Europe PMC18
2014 Hao, N., Krishna, S., Ahlgren-Berg, A., Cutts, E., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2014). Road rules for traffic on DNA - systematic analysis of transcriptional roadblocking in vivo. Nucleic Acids Research, 42(14), 8861-8872.
DOI Scopus37 WoS35 Europe PMC27
2013 Hao, N., & Whitelaw, M. (2013). The emerging roles of AhR in physiology and immunity. Biochemical Pharmacology, 86(5), 561-570.
DOI Scopus182 WoS178 Europe PMC162
2013 Hao, N., Bhakti, V., Peet, D., & Whitelaw, M. (2013). Reciprocal regulation of the basic helix-loop-helix/Per-Arnt-Sim partner proteins, Arnt and Arnt2, during neuronal differentiation. Nucleic Acids Research, 41(11), 5626-5638.
DOI Scopus30 WoS27 Europe PMC28
2012 Hao, N., Lee, K., Furness, S., Bosdotter, C., Poellinger, L., & Whitelaw, M. (2012). Xenobiotics and loss of cell adhesion drive distinct transcriptional outcomes by aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling. Molecular Pharmacology, 82(6), 1082-1093.
DOI Scopus26 WoS25 Europe PMC24
2011 Hao, N., Whitelaw, M. L., Shearwin, K. E., Dodd, I. B., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2011). Identification of residues in the N-terminal PAS domains important for dimerization of Arnt and AhR. Nucleic Acids Research, 39(9), 3695-3709.
DOI Scopus36 WoS32 Europe PMC33
2010 Whelan, F., Hao, N., Furness, S., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2010). Amino acid substitutions in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand binding domain reveal YH439 as an atypical AhR activator. Molecular Pharmacology, 77(6), 1037-1046.
DOI Scopus21 WoS18 Europe PMC19

Year Citation
2023 Hao, N. (2023). Re-imagining Phage Biology: A Synthetic Biology Perspective. Poster session presented at the meeting of ENT Mini Symposium. Adelaide.
2022 Hao, N. (2022). Synthetic Biology Tools for Repeated Genome Integration in E. coli. Poster session presented at the meeting of ASBMB ComBio 2022. Melbourne.
2021 Hao, N. (2021). The pIT5 Plasmid Series, an Improved Toolkit for Repeated Genome Integration in E. coli. Poster session presented at the meeting of ASBMB Adelaide Protein Group (APG) Awards Fest. Adelaide.
2019 Hao, N. (2019). Expanding the Synthetic Biology Toolbox. Poster session presented at the meeting of School of Biological Sciences Research Day. Adelaide.
2019 Hao, N., Shearwin, K. E., & Dodd, I. B. (2019). Programmable DNA looping using engineered bivalent dCas9 complexes. Poster session presented at the meeting of Abstracts of the 27th FAOBMB & 44th MSBMB Conference. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (MSBMB).
2019 Hao, N. (2019). Positive and Negative Control of Enhancer-Promoter Interactions by Other DNA Loops Generates Specificity and Tunability. Poster session presented at the meeting of Synthetic Biology Australasia conference 2019. Brisbane.
2017 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2017). Understanding and Manipulating Chromosomal-Scale DNA Looping in Escherichia coli. Poster session presented at the meeting of 2017 Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution & Design (SEED) : Proceedings. Vancouver, Canada.
2017 Hao, N. (2017). Programmable DNA looping using engineered bivalent dCas9 complexes. Poster session presented at the meeting of ASBMB ComBio conference. Adelaide.
2017 Hao, N. (2017). Programmable DNA looping using engineered bivalent dCas9 complexes. Poster session presented at the meeting of Synthetic Biology Australasia Conference. Sydney.
2017 Hao, N., Priest, D., Dodd, I., & Shearwin, K. (2017). Programmable DNA looping in vivo. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australia-China Symposium on Synthetic Biology. Brisbane.
2016 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2016). Road Rules for Traffic on DNA: Gene Regulation by Encounters between Transcribing RNA Polymerases and DNA-bound Proteins. Poster session presented at the meeting of Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution & Design (SEED). Chicago, USA.
2016 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2016). Understand DNA looping in vivo - a synthetic biology approach. Poster session presented at the meeting of OCE Cutting Edge Conference in Synthetic Biology. Canberra.
2015 Hao, N., Krishna, S., Shearwin, K., & Dodd, I. (2015). Road Rules for Traffic on DNA: Gene Regulation by Encounters between Transcribing RNA Polymerases and DNA-bound Proteins. Poster session presented at the meeting of 2nd International Synthetic & Systems Biology Summer School. Taormina - Sicily, Italy.
2015 Hao, N. (2015). Understanding and manipulating long-range DNA looping in vivo. Poster session presented at the meeting of ASBMB ComBio conference. Melbourne.
2014 Hao, N. (2014). Road Rules for Traffic on DNA: Gene Regulation by Encounters between Transcribing RNA Polymerases and DNA-bound Proteins. Poster session presented at the meeting of The 13th Asian Conference on Transcription. Melbourne.
2012 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., Dodd, I., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2012). Reverse Bacterial Two Hybrid: A New Tool for Studying Dimeric Protein Interactions. Poster session presented at the meeting of ASBMB ComBio conference. Adelaide.
2009 Hao, N., Shearwin., Dodd, I., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-Smith, A. (2009). Reverse Bacterial two Hybrid (RevB2H) method for studying protein-protein interactions. Poster session presented at the meeting of Network in Genes and Environment in Development (NGED) Forum. Palm Cove, Queensland.
2009 Hao, N., Shearwin, K., Dodd, I., Whitelaw, M., & Chapman-smith, A. (2009). A novel Reverse Bacterial two Hybrid (RevB2H) method for studying protein-protein interactions and screening for potential therapeutics. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) SA Scientific Meeting. Adelaide.

Year Citation
2012 Hao, N. (2012). Regulation of Eukaryotic Transcription by bHLH/PAS Transcription Factors AhR and Arnt. (PhD Thesis, The University of Adelaide).
2007 Hao, N. (2007). Searching for HIF-1α/Arnt PAS Domain Interacting Proteins. (The University of Adelaide).

Year Citation
2019 Hao, N. (2019). Conference report, Aspiring Meeting of Young Researchers in Kuala Lumpur. Australian Biochemist.
2015 Hao, N. (2015). Science Under the Volcano - Australian Biochemist Magazine. Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Inc..
Funding

A novel precision medicine approach for chronic suppurative otitis media. NHMRC Ideas Grant 2036772 (2025) CIs: Vreugde, S., Psaltis, A., Kuthubutheen, J., Perry, C., Shearwin, K., Morales, S. PIs: Bouras G; Edwards R; Hao N; Ogunniyi A $1,993,782

AusHealth (2024-2025) Shearwin, K., Hao, N., contract research. (details subject to NDA)

AusHealth (2022-2023) Shearwin, K., Vreugde S., Hao, N., Liu, S., Wormald P.J., Fitridge, R., and Bouras G. $310,144

Improving biorefineries by phage-assisted evolution of cytochrome P450 enzyme activity. BTF New collaboration scheme (2022) Shearwin, K., Bell, S., Hao, N., Whelan, F. Beltrame, L. and Harlington, A. $40,000

Biochemical characterization of S. aureus putative ATP-grasp ligase HypA. School of Biological Sciences EMCR Association Small Grants, The University of Adelaide (2021) Hao, N. $ 1,000

Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemist & Molecular Biologist YSP travel fellowship, 27th FAOBMB & 44th MSBMB Conference (2019) Hao, N. $3,000

Kick-starting the Australian Bioeconomy with Synthetic Biology. Theo Murphy Initiative (Australia), Australian Academy of Science (2019) Gumulya, Y., Kidd, B., Honkanen, S., Rottet, S., Grau, A., Fabris, M., Abbriano, R., Hao, N., Vavitsas, K. $24,900

Developing orthogonal Cas/anti-Cas pairs as building blocks for genetic circuit design. CSIRO FSP Fellowship (2017-2021) Hao, N. $510,000

Nanomachine v2.0. CSIRO SynBio FSP Pitch Award (2018-2019) Hao, N., Shearwin, K.E., Hartley C., Lee L., and Scott C. $10,000

Logic Gate Control for Biodiversity Protection. CSIRO SynBio FSP Pitch Award (2018) Tizard, M., Cooper, C., Kidd, B., Hao, N., Capon, R. $10,000

Understanding and manipulating DNA looping in long range gene regulation. NHMRC Project Grant APP1100651 (2016-2019) Dodd, I.B., Shearwin, K.E., Sneppen, K. and Hao, N. $351,000

Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) travel fellowship (2015) Hao, N. $3,000

Traffic on DNA: interplay between RNA polymerases and DNA-bound proteins. ARC DECRA fellowship DE150100091 (2015-2017) Hao, N. $366,000

Postgraduate Teaching

BIOTECH 7003 - Advanced Research Techniques (Course Coordinator and Sole Lecturer)

BIOTECH 7007 - Biotechnology in Practice (Course Coordinator and Sole Lecturer)

BIOTECH 7008 - Applied Biotechnology Research and Design (Lecturer and Laboratory Supervisor)

 
Laboratory placement supervision

2024: Angela Kloutsiniotis, Kaitlin Turland, Hugh Evans, Jack Basso, Sophie Loveys and Madeline Fechner

2023: Sophie Loveys and Amal Mostafa

2022: Sarah Eisemann, Deannon Branch, Julia Leeflang, and Jayden Revink

2021: Jannath Hera, and Sarah Eisemann

2020: Alix Harlington

2019: Emma Becroft

2018: Grace Tulysewski, and Smriti Singh

2017: Grace Tulysewski

2016: Emi Schutz, Daniel Reed

2015: Alejandra Isabel

2014: Trang Pham, Jade Foeng, Andrew J. Hayes, Queenie Tangseefa, Dominique Jackson

2013: Jia Quyen Truong‎, Byron Shue

2012: Duncan McKenzie

2011: Benjamin Lee (exchange student from Singapore)

2010: Lauren A. Watkins

 

Undergraduate Teaching

Human Perspectives (SGDE)

Honours in Biochemistry (research grant proposal and thesis assessment)

Honours in Health and Medical Sciences (research grant proposal and thesis assessment)

 
Undergraduate practical demonstrating

2010 semester 2          Level II MBS Practical series B

2010 semester 1          Level III Biochemistry course

2010 semester 1          Level II MBS Practical series A

2010 semester 1          Level II MBS Practical series C

2009 semester 2          Level II MBS Practical series B

2009 semester 1          Level III Biochemistry course

2009 semester 1          Level II MBS Practical series A

2008 semester 2          Level II MBS Practical series B

2008 semester 1          Level III Biochemistry course

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor Developing novel systems for bacteriophage particle assembly and characterising bacteriophage proteins of unknown function Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jayden Thomas Revink
2025 Co-Supervisor Study of bacteriophage protein structures for the production of improved antimicrobial
agents		 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Jayne Eisemann
2025 Co-Supervisor Developing novel systems for bacteriophage particle assembly and characterising bacteriophage proteins of unknown function Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jayden Thomas Revink
2025 Co-Supervisor Study of bacteriophage protein structures for the production of improved antimicrobial
agents		 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Jayne Eisemann

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2018 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Development of the PHEARLESS system and its application for directed protein mutagenesis and characterisation of putative endolysin activity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Hannah Rose Bonham
2017 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Investigating catalytically inactive Cas proteins as transcriptional roadblocks Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Alana Jane Donnelly

Date Role Membership Country
2017 - ongoing Member Australian Academy of Science EMCR Forum Australia
2016 - ongoing Member Synthetic Biology Australasia (SBA) Australia
2010 - ongoing Member Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Australia

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