General

Yongjin Zhou is a Professor and Principle Investigator in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering, at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in 2012, his M.E. in Biochemical Engineering at Tianjin University in 2008 and a bachelor degree in Food Science and Technology at Jiangnan University in 2006. From 2012-2016, he worked as a Postdoc fellow in Sysbio Lab in Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. In January of 2017, he was recruited as the Principle Investigator and Professor to establish Synthetic Biology for Biocatalysis group at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS. His research areas include: Synthetic microbiology for cell factory construction, yeast genetics and metabolic engineering. He co-authored more than 40 peer reviewed papers on prestigious journal such as JACS, PNAS, Nat. comm. with >1000 citations and hold 3 patents. He was honored several awards includes Young scholar award of International Conference on Metabolic Sciences (2016), The first prize of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association (2015),etc.

Research Areas

Biochemical Engineering

Synthetic Biology

Metabolic Engineering

Education

​2008-2012, PhD, Division of Biotechnology, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, China

2006-2008, MS, Biochemical Engineering, Tianjin University, China.            

2002-2006, BS,  Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, China.

Experience

   
Work Experience

2018-now,  Professor and PI, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS

2017-2018, Associate Professor and PI, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS

2014-2016, Co-founder and chief scientist, Biopetrolia AB

2012-2016, Postdoc Fellow, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.




Publications

Papers

  1. Reprogramming yeast metabolism from alcoholic fermentation to lipogenesis. Cell, 2018
  2. Expanding the terpenoid kingdom. Nature Chemical Biology 2018,
  3. Barriers and opportunities in bio-based production of hydrocarbons. Nature Energy, 2018
  4. Engineering 1-alkene biosynthesis and secretion by dynamic regulation in yeast, ACS Synthetic Biology, 2018 
  5. Expanding the product portfolio of fungal type I fatty acid synthases, Nature Chemical Biology, 2017
  6. Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for production of very long chain fatty acid-derived chemicals, Nature Communications, 2017
  7. Functional screening of aldehyde decarbonylases for long-chain alkane production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Microbial Cell Factories, 2017 
  8. Production of fatty acid-derived oleochemicals and biofuels by synthetic yeast cell factories, Nature Communications, 2016
  9. Harnessing yeast peroxisomes for biosynthesis of fatty-acid-derived biofuels and chemicals with relieved side-pathway competition, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2016
  10. Long-chain alkane production by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2015


Research Interests

1) We are developing microbial cells for efficient production of value-added chemicals and biofuels from methanol, which can be chemical synthesized from coal or natural gas. This process could provide an alternative carbon feedstock for bio-refinery and also a clean process for utilization of low quality coal.

2) Developing novel and efficient tools and methods for improving the design, build and test cycle for biological systems; develop cutting-edge metabolic engineering principles for accelerating design microbial cell factories.

Students

现指导学生

吴晓燕  硕士研究生  081703-生物化工  

叶敏  硕士研究生  081703-生物化工  

申益维  硕士研究生  081703-生物化工  

禹伟  博士研究生  081703-生物化工  

Honors & Distinctions

“Lun Shiyi” Outstanding Young Scientists, 2018

Young Scholar Award in the Biochemical Engineering of China, 2017

Young Scholar Award of International Metabolic Science Conference, 2016