Yuzhong Liu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
Research Focus
The Liu laboratory develops synthetic biology and biocatalysis platforms to produce and diversify complex, biologically active molecules. By combining pathway engineering, enzyme discovery and evolution, microbial fermentation, and chemical biology, the lab seeks to make valuable natural products more accessible while creating molecular structures that are difficult to obtain through conventional synthesis.
Major research areas include:
i) the biosynthesis and engineering of complex glycosides, particularly saponin vaccine adjuvants such as QS-21;
ii) microbial production and diversification of nonribosomal peptides and other bioactive natural products; and
iii) the development of engineered proteins, glycans, and biomaterials.
The group also builds new tools for glycosylation, antigen engineering, and continuous evolution in microbial hosts.
Ultimately, we aim to use natural and engineered enzymes as programmable catalysts for chemical synthesis, enabling new vaccines, therapeutics, and functional materials.
Select Publications
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Liu, Yuzhong; Zhao, Xixi; Gan, Fei; Chen, Xiaoyue; Deng, Kai; Crowe, Samantha A.; Hudson, Graham A.; Belcher, Michael S.; Schmidt, Matthias; Astolfi, Maria C T; Kosina, Suzanne M.; Pang, Bo; Shao, Minglong; Yin, Jing; Sirirungruang, Sasilada; Iavarone, Anthony T.; Reed, James; Martin, Laetitia B B; El-Demerdash, Amr; Kikuchi, Shingo; Misra, Rajesh Chandr C.; Liang, Xiaomeng; Cronce, Michael J.; Chen, Xiulai; Zhan, Chunjun; Kakumanu, Ramu; Baidoo, Edward E K; Chen, Yan; Petzold, Christopher J.; Northen, Trent R.; Osbourn, Anne; Scheller, Henrik; Keasling, Jay D. Complete biosynthesis of QS-21 in engineered yeast. 2024, 629, 937-944.
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Martin, Laetitia B B; Kikuchi, Shingo; Rejzek, Martin; Owen, Charlotte; Reed, James; Orme, Anastasia; Misra, Rajesh C.; El-Demerdash, Amr; Hill, Lionel; Hodgson, Hannah; Liu, Yuzhong; Keasling, Jay D.; Field, Robert A.; Truman, Andrew W.; Osbourn, Anne Complete biosynthesis of the potent vaccine adjuvant QS-21. 2024, 20, 493-502.
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Crowe, Samantha A.; Zhao, Xixi; Gan, Fei; Chen, Xiaoyue; Hudson, Graham A.; Astolfi, Maria C T; Scheller, Henrik V.; Liu, Yuzhong; Keasling, Jay D. Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a Biosynthetic Platform of Nucleotide Sugars. 2024, 13, 1215-1224.
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Liu, Yuzhong; Cruz-Morales, Pablo; Zargar, Amin; Belcher, Michael S.; Pang, Bo; Englund, Elias; Dan, Qingyun; Yin, Kevin; Keasling, Jay D. Biofuels for a sustainable future. 2021, 184, 1636-1647.
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Liu, Yuzhong; Ma, Yanhang; Zhao, Yingbo; Sun, Xixi; Gandara, Felipe; Furukawa, Hiroyasu; Liu, Zheng; Zhu, Hanyu; Zhu, Chenhui; Suenaga, Kazutomo; Oleynikov, Peter; Alshammari, Ahmad S.; Zhang, Xiang; Terasaki, Osamu; Yaghi, Omar M. Weaving of organic threads into a crystalline covalent organic framework. SCIENCE 2016, 351, 365-369.
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Liu, Yuzhong; Ma, Yanhang; Yang, Jingjing; Diercks, Chri S.; Tamura, Nobumichi; Jin, Fangying; Yaghi, O M. Molecular Weaving of Covalent Organic Frameworks for Adaptive Guest Inclusion. 2018, 140, 16015-16019.
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