The main areas of research are rational enzyme design and biosynthesis of valuable molecules. Aiming at synthetic biology and green biological manufacturing, I specifically carry out: (1) new enzyme mining and sequence reconstruction via bioinformatical means; (2) analyzing the structure-activity relationship of enzymes and shedding light on the catalytic mechanisms using computational techniques such as molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry; (3) developing new methodologies for rational enzyme design, either enhancing their original catalytic performance or endowing them with new functions; and (4) applying the improved enzymes to the biosynthesis of functional molecules such as pharmaceutical intermediates and natural products.

2011-2016，Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan，Bioinformatics，Ph. D.

2016-2020，Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences，Assistant Professor

2020-Now，Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences，Associate Professor

2021 The member of Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS (No. 2021175)

2011 European Union International Ph.D. program “from Genotype to Phenotype” (Consortium Grant MPD 2010/3)

2023

53. Reetz MT*, Qu G*, Sun Z*. Engineered enzymes for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other high-value products. Nat. Synth., 2023, accepted.

52. Li X, Wang J, Su W, Li C, Qu G, Yuan B*, Sun Z*. Characterization and engineering of cephalosporin C acylases to produce 7-Aminocephalosporanic acid. Mol. Catal., 2023, 550, 113595.

51. Chen Q, Qu G, Li X, Feng M, Yang F, Li Y, Li J, Tong F, Song S, Wang Y*, Sun Z*, Luo G. Active and stable alcohol dehydrogenase-assembled hydrogels via synergistic bridging of triazoles and metal ions. Nat. Commun., 2023, 14, 2117.

50. Reetz MT*, Sun Z*, Qu G*. Book review of “Enzyme engineering: Selective catalysts for applications in biotechnology, organic chemistry, and life science”. Green Synth. Catal., 2023, 4, 77.

49. 曲戈*,孙周通*.催化混杂性驱动的酶功能重塑. 生物技术通报(Biotechnol. Bull.), 2023, 39, 1-9.

2022

48. Chen Q, An Y, Feng M, Li J, Li Y, Tong F, Qu G, Sun Z, Wang Y*, Luo G. An enzyme-assembled gel monolithic microreactor for continuous flow asymmetric synthesis of aryl alcohols. Green Chem., 2022, 24, 9508-9518.

47. 曲戈, 袁波, 孙周通*．工业蛋白质理性设计与应用.生物工程学报(Chin. J. Biotech.), 2022, 38, 4068-4080.

46. Li J-K^#, Qu G^#, Li X^#, Tian Y, Cui C, Zhang F-G, Zhang W, Ma J-A*, Reetz MT*, Sun Z*. Rational enzyme design for enabling biocatalytic Baldwin cyclization and asymmetric synthesis of chiral heterocycles. Nat. Commun., 2022, 13, 7813.

45. Jiang Y, Li X, Liu B, Tong F, Qu G*, Sun Z*. Engineering the hydrogen transfer pathway of an alcohol dehydrogenase to increase activity by rational enzyme design. Mol. Catal., 2022, 530, 112603.

44. Ming H, Yuan B, Qu G*, Sun Z*. Engineering the Activity of Amine Dehydrogenase in the Asymmetric Reductive Amination of Hydroxyl Ketones. Catal. Sci. Technol., 2022, 12, 5952-5960.

43. Sang X, Tong F, Zeng Z*, Wu M, Yuan B, Sun Z, Sheng X, Qu G, Alcalde M, Hollmann F*, Zhang W*. A Biocatalytic Platform for the Synthesis of Enantiopure Propargylic Alcohols and Amines. Org. Lett., 2022, 24, 4252-4257.

42. Qin Z, Zhang X, Sang X, Zhang W, Qu G*, Sun Z*. Carboxylic acid reductases enable intramolecular lactamization reactions. Green Synth. Catal., 2022, 3, 294-297.

41. Wang J^#, Qu G^#, Xie L, Gao C, Jiang Y, Zhang Y-H, Sun Z*, You C*. Engineering of a Thermophilic Dihydroxy？acid Dehydratase toward Glycerate Dehydration for in vitro Biosystems. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2022, 106, 3625-3637.

40. Song S^#, Jiang Y^#, Chen R, Su W, Liang W, Yang D, Li J, Zhang W, Gao S, Yuan B*, Qu G*, Sun Z*. Whole-cell Biotransformation of Penicillin G by a Three-enzyme Co-expression System with Engineered Deacetoxycephalosporin C Synthase. ChemBioChem, 2022, e202200179.

39. Zhang J, Liao D, Chen R, Zhu F, Ma Y, Gao L, Qu G, Cui C, Sun Z*, Lei X*, Gao S*. Tuning an Imine Reductase for the Asymmetric Synthesis of Azacycloalkylamines by Concise Structure-Guided Engineering. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2022. e202201908

38. Yang D, Su W, Jiang Y, Gao S, Li X, Qu G*, Sun Z*. Biosynthesis of β-lactam nuclei in yeast. Metab. Eng., 2022, 72, 56-65.

37. Jiang Y^#, Qu G^#, Sheng X, Tong F, Sun Z*. Unraveling the mechanism of enantio-controlling switches of an alcohol dehydrogenase toward sterically small ketone. Catal. Sci. Technol., 2022, 12, 1777-1787.

36. 毕悦欣, 蒋迎迎, 覃宗敏, 曲戈*, 孙周通*. 醇脱氢酶金属离子绑定位点的可替换性. 生物工程学报(Chin. J. Biotech.), 2022, 38(4): 1518-1526.

35. Bi H^#, Qu G^#, Wang S, Zhuang Y, Sun Z*, Liu T*, Ma Y. Biosynthesis of a rosavin natural product in Escherichia coli by glycosyltransferase rational design and artificial pathway construction. Metab. Eng., 2022, 69, 15-25.

34. Tong F^#, Qin Z^#, Wang H^#, Jiang Y, Li J, Ming H, Qu G, Xiao Y*, Sun Z*. Biosynthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols via an Engineered Amine Dehydrogenase in E. coli. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol., 2022, 9:778584.

33. Qu G, Bi Y, Liu B, Li J, Han X, Liu W, Jiang Y, Qin Z, Sun Z*. Unlocking the stereoselectivity and substrate acceptance of enzymes: Proline induced loop engineering test. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2022, 61, e202110793.

32. Dong C^#, Qu G^#, Guo J, Wei F, Gao S, Sun Z, Jin L, Sun X, Rochaix J-D, Miao Y*, Wang R*. Rational design of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase enhances carotenoid production and improves photosynthetic efficiency in Nicotiana tabacum. Sci. Bull., 2022, 67, 315-327.

2021

31. Wu R, Yu Y-Y, Wang Y, Wang Y-Z, Song H, Ma C, Qu G, You C, Sun Z, Zhang W, Li A, Li CM*, Yong Y-C*, Zhu Z*. Wastewater-powered high-value chemical synthesis in a hybrid bioelectrochemical system, iScience, 2021, 24, 103401.

30. 张武元, 袁波, 曲戈, 孙周通. 光促酶催化反应设计及生物合成应用. 生物学杂志 (J. Biol.), 2021, 1-12. 特约综述

29. 张发光, 曲戈, 孙周通*, 马军安*. 从化学合成到生物合成—天然产物全合成新趋势. 合成生物学 (Synbio. J.), 2021, 2, 674-696. 特约评述

28. Chen Q, Guo M, Bi Y, Qu G, Sun Z, Wang Y*, Luo G. Whole-cell biocatalytic synthesis of S-(4-chlorophenyl)-(pyridin-2-yl) methanol in a liquid–liquid biphasic microreaction system. Bioresource Technol., 2021, 330: 125022.

27. Li J^#, Qu G^#, Shang N, Chen P, Men Y, Liu W, Mei Z, Sun Y*, Sun Z*. Near-perfect control of the regioselective glucosylation enabled by rational design of glycosyltransferases. Green Synth. Catal., 2021, 2, 45-53.

2020

26. Wang H^#, Qu G^#, Li JK^#, Ma JA, Guo J, Miao Y, Sun Z*. Data mining of amine dehydrogenases for the synthesis of enantiopure amino alcohols. Catal. Sci. Technol., 2020, 10, 5945-5952.

25. 蒋迎迎，曲戈，孙周通*. 机器学习助力酶定向进化. 生物学杂志 (J. Biol.), 2020, 37(4), 1-11. 特约综述

24. Mei Z^#, Zhang K^#, Qu G, Li JK, Liu B, Ma JA, Tu R*, Sun Z*. A High-Throughput Fluorescence Assay for Ketone Detection and its Applications in Enzyme Mining and Protein Engineering. ACS Omega, 2020, 5, 13588-13594.

23. Qu G^#, Li A^#, Acevedo-Rocha CG^#, Sun Z*, Reetz MT*. The Crucial Role of Methodology Development in Directed Evolution of Selective Enzymes. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2020, 59, 13204-13231.

22. Chen J^#, Fan F^#, Qu G^#, Tang J, Xi Y, Bi C, Sun Z*, Zhang X*. Identification of Absidia orchidis steroid 11β-hydroxylation system and its application in engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for one-step biotransformation to produce hydrocortisone. Metab. Eng., 2020, 57, 31-42.

2019

21. 张锟^#，曲戈^#，刘卫东，孙周通. 工业酶结构与功能的构效关系. 生物工程学报(Chin. J. Biotech.), 2019, 35(10): 1806-1818.

20. Qu G^#, Liu B^#, Zhang K, Jiang Y, Zhai C, Guo J, Wang R, Miao Y, Sun Z*. Computer-assisted engineering of the catalytic activity of a carboxylic acid reductase. J. Biotechnol., 2019, 306, 97-104.

19. 曲戈^#，朱彤^#，蒋迎迎，吴边，孙周通*. 蛋白质工程：从定向进化到计算设计. 生物工程学报 (Chin. J. Biotech.), 2019, 35(10), 1843-1856. （获得“生物工程学报年度优秀论文奖”）

18 Li A^#, Qu G^#, Sun Z*, Reetz MT*. Statistical Analysis of the Benefits of Focused Saturation Mutagenesis in Directed Evolution Based on Reduced Amino Acid Alphabets. ACS Catal., 2019, 9, 7769-7778.

17. Liu B^#, Qu G^#, Li J, Fan W, Ma JA, Xu Y, Nie Y*, Sun Z*. Conformational Dynamics-Guided Loop Engineering of an Alcohol Dehydrogenase: Capture, Turnover and Enantioselective Transformation of Difficult-to-Reduce Ketones. Adv. Synth. Catal., 2019, 361, 3182-3190.

16. Qu G^#, Liu B^#, Jiang Y, Nie Y, Yu H, Sun Z*. Laboratory evolution of an alcohol dehydrogenase towards enantioselective reduction of difficult-to-reduce ketones. Bioresour. Bioprocess. 2019, 6(1):18.

15. Sun Z*, Liu Q, Qu G, Feng Y*, Reetz MT*. The Utility of B-Factors in Protein Science: Interpreting Rigidity, Flexibility and Internal Motion and Engineering Thermostability. Chem. Rev., 2019, 119, 1626-1665.

14. Qu G^#, Fu M^#, Zhao L, Liu B, Liu P, Fan W, Ma J, Sun Z*. Computational Insights into the Catalytic Mechanism of Bacterial Carboxylic Acid Reductase. J. Chem. Inf. Model., 2019, 59, 832-841.

13. Dai Z^#, Liu Y^#, Sun Z^#, Wang D, Qu G, Ma X, Fan F, Zhang L, Li S, Zhang X*. Identification of a novel cytochrome P450 enzyme that catalyzes the C-2α hydroxylation of pentacyclic triterpenoids and its application in yeast cell factories. Metab. Eng., 2019, 51, 70-78.

12. 曲戈，张锟，蒋迎迎，孙周通*. 2018诺贝尔化学奖：酶定向进化与噬菌体展示技术. 生物学杂志 (J. Biol.), 2019, 36(1): 1-6. 特约综述.

2018

11. Qu G, Guo J, Yang D, Sun Z*. Biocatalysis of carboxylic acid reductases: Phylogenesis, Catalytic Mechanism and Potential Applications. Green Chem., 2018, 20(4), 777-792.

10. Qu G, Lonsdale R, Yao P, Li G, Liu B, Reetz MT*, Sun Z*. Methodology Development in Directed Evolution: Exploring Options When Applying Triple Code Saturation Mutagenesis. ChemBioChem, 2018, 19, 239-246.

9. Qu G, Zhao J, Zheng P, Sun J, Sun Z*. Recent advances in directed evolution. Chin. J. Biotech., 2018, 34(1): 1-11.

曲戈，赵晶，郑平，孙际宾，孙周通*。定向进化技术的最新进展。生物工程学报, 2018, 34(1): 1-11. 特邀综述（双语）（获得“生物工程学报年度优秀论文奖”）

8. Yang J^#, Zhu Y^#, Qu G, Zeng Y, Tian C, Dong C, Men Y, Dai L, Sun Z*, Sun Y*, Ma Y. Biosynthesis of dendroketose from different carbon sources using in vitro and in vivo metabolic engineering strategies. Biotechnol. Biofuels, 2018, 11, 290.

Before 2018

7. Qu G, Kruszka K, Plewka P, Yang S-Y, Chiou T-J, Jarmolowski A, Szweykowska-Kulinska Z, Echeverria M*, Karlowski W*. Promoter-based Identification of Novel Non-coding RNAs Reveals the Presence of Dicistronic snoRNA-miRNA Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. BMC Genomics, 2015, 16, 1009.

6. Wang B, Lu L, Lv H, Jiang H, Qu G, Tian C*, Ma Y. The transcriptome landscape of Prochlorococcus MED4 and the factors for stabilizing the core genome. BMC Microbiol., 2014, 14:11.

5. Lv H, Qu G, Qi X, Lu L, Tian C*, Ma Y. Transcriptome analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii during the process of lipid accumulation. Genomics. 2013, 101:229-237.

4. Wang M, Jiang Y-Y, Kim KM, Qu G, Ji H-F, Mittenthal JE, Zhang H-Y*, Caetano-Anolles G*. A Universal Molecular Clock of Protein Folds and its Power in Tracing the Early History of Aerobic Metabolism and Planet Oxygenation. Mol. Biol. Evol., 2011, 28, 567-582.

3. Qu G^#, Wang W^#, Chen L-L, Qian S-S and Zhang H-Y*. tRNA-dependent Cysteine Biosynthetic Pathway Represents a Strategy to Increase Cysteine Contents by Preventing it from Thermal Degradation: Thermal Adaptation of Methanogenic Archaea Ancestor. J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn., 2009, 27, 111-114.

2. 陈蕾, 曲戈. 氧化还原酶辅因子的使用偏好与化学基础, 山东农业大学学报(自然科学版), 2009, 3, 393-397.

1. Ma B-G, Che L, Ji H-F, Chen Z-H, Yang F-R, Wang L, Qu G, Jiang Y-Y, Ji C, Zhang H-Y*. Characters of very ancient proteins. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2008, 366, 607-611.

Monograph/Chapters：

5. Sun Z, Reetz MT, Qu G. Enzyme Engineering: Selective Catalysts for Applications in Biotechnology, Organic Chemistry, and Life Science. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2023. (Monograph)

4. 曲戈, 孙周通. 第6章 酶的分子改造与修饰. 马延和主编，《高级酶工程》，pp: 139-162, 科学出版社, 北京, 2022. (Chapter)

3. 曲戈, 孙周通. 第3章 酶的结构与功能. 马延和主编，《高级酶工程》，pp: 55-83, 科学出版社, 北京, 2022. (Chapter)

2. Qu G, Sun Z*. In Silico Prediction Methods for Site-Saturation Mutagenesis. In: Magnani F., Marabelli C., Paradisi F. (eds), Enzyme Engineering. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2397, pp: 49-69, Humana, New York, 2022. (Chapter)

1. Qu G, Sun Z*, Reetz MT*. Iterative Saturation Mutagenesis for Semi-rational Enzyme Design. In: Zhao H. (ed.), Protein Engineering: Tools and Applications, pp: 105-132, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2021. (Chapter)

The National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, etc.