I am an emerging early career researcher, who co-led a subgroup protein engineering in Chun-xia Zhao group in School of Chemical engineering, ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals (COE Minerals) in University of Adelaide. I was awarded my PhD at the Monash University, July 2023. Considering relative to opportunity (3 months post doc and 3.5 years PhD), my track record is strong with 7 publications of which more than half are first author and in notable high impact journals, including first author original article in Nat. Commun. and Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A, 3 oral and more than 10 poster presentations at domestic and international conferences. Research Summary My current research focuses on a comprehensive understanding of how the tick salivary proteins (evasins) selectively inhibit a subset of human chemokines. This is of direct significance for the development of anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Additionally, the study is establishing a broader paradigm for selective protein-protein recognition, involving separate functions for backbone and side chain interactions. My current work focused on discovery, characterization and engineering of rare earth elements binding proteins found in bacteria and develop a protein toolbox for repeated recovery and recycling of metal ions.