Dr. Douglas J. H. Shyu is an associate professor at the Department of Biological Science and Technology, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. Dr. Shyu leads the teaching and research in functional genomics, explicitly focusing on microbiome metagenomics.

Dr. Shyu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology from Chung Shan Medical University, and then a Master’s degree in Agricultural Biotechnology, and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from National Chung Hsing University. He was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology of Yuanpei University before moving to the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology campus at the Department of Life Sciences and later at the Department of Biological Science and Technology.

The research in Dr. Shyu’s lab, Functional Genomics Lab, is principally focused on the emerging field of microbiome metagenomics concerned with interaction, signaling and gene regulation mechanisms between plants or animals and microbes. The ultimate goal is to develop novel biocontrol and therapeutic agents, use green nanobiotechnology methods against pathogenic microbes, and advance the beneficial microorganisms research to achieve the objective of one health.

For the investigation of microbial communities, microbiome metagenomics strategies are utilized as the non-cultural approaches and the high-throughput technologies for the identification of microbes that are beneficial or detrimental to plant and animal growth. The signaling mechanisms, the quorum sensing and the quorum quenching, between microorganisms are known to regulate their growth and development and the symbiotic or pathogenic relationships with their plant and animal hosts. The study on functional analysis of microbiomes is essential for the primary purposes of current studies on the animal gut, plant rhizosphere, and the signaling mechanisms between hosts and microorganisms. The probiotics products and the biological control agents will be developed from the research. Also, the bio-industrial enzymes and the anti-microbial nano-agents will be evaluated for further applications.