Associate Professor

Tel: 0510-85197551

Email: zliu@jiangnan.edu.cn

Web:

2012 – present          Associate Professor, Jiangnan University

2009 – 2012               Postdoctoral Fellow, Emory University (USA)

2003 – 2008               M.Sc. and Ph.D., The University of Tokyo (Japan)

1997 – 2001               B.Sc., Liaoning University

Enzymes are   natural catalysts, and convert the substrates into different molecules known   as products. Enzymes in general are proteins, and wildly used in the chemical   industry and other industrial applications. As “green production” is getting   more and more attention, the traditional chemical methods have given priority   to biological methods depending on enzyme catalysis.

The study of   enzymes is called enzymology. My primary interest is to understand the   catalytic mechanism and evolution of enzymes. Within these studies, a wide   variety of biochemical, molecular biology and biophysical methods are used, such   as enzyme kinetics, site-directed mutagenesis, semi-rational protein   engineering, and isothermal titration calorimetry. The goal is to evolve enzymes   with desired properties, such as enhanced activity, stable catalytic property,   and other novel properties. Based on theoretical   researches, we are going to construct cost-effective engineering bacterial strains   expressing industrial and pharmaceutical enzymes. These findings will promote   applications ranging from biocatalysts to biomedical   fields.

Additionally I   am also interested in the use of microbial enzymes in the natural functional   food. 

1.  Liu Z*, Gao X*, Zhou L, Cui   W, Tian Y and Zhou Z.  “An extracellular aminopeptidase encoded by ywaD   gene plays an important role in supplying nitrogen nutrition for the growth   of Bacillus subtilis 168” Can J Microbiol. 2017, 63, 516.

2.  Wang Z, Liu Z*, Cui W, Zhou   Z*. “Establishment of Bioprocess for Synthesis of Nicotinamide by Recombinant   Escherichia coli Expressing High Molecular Mass Nitrile Hydratase” Appl   Biochem Biotechnol. 2017, doi: 10.1007/s12010-017-2410-y.

3.  Gao X*, Liu Z*, Cui W, Zhou   L, Tian Y and Zhou Z. “Enhanced thermal stability and hydrolytic ability of   Bacillus subtilis aminopeptidase by removing the thermal sensitive domain in   the non-catalytic region” Plos One, 2014, 9, e92357.

4.  Du K, Liu Z, Cui W, Zhou L,   Liu Y, Du G, Chen J, Zhou Z. “A pH-dependent activation of Streptomyces   hygroscopicus transglutaminase mediated by intein” Appl. Environ. Microb.,   2014, 80, 723.