Yifei Zhang
Professor, Full-time PI
Specializations: Biocatalysis, Enzyme Engineering, Synthetic biology, Nanobiotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics
Email: yifeizhang@buct.edu.cn
Office Location: Room 3-7 Computer Science Building, Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Group Website: www.zhangbiolab.cn
Biography
Dr. Yifei Zhang is a Professor in the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. He earned his bachelor degree in 2010 and his Ph.D. degree in 2015 from Chemical Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He then joined the laboratory of Prof. Henry Hess at Columbia University in the City of New York for his postdoc training. His research focused on the reaction-transport behaviors and complex dynamics of multienzyme systems. In October 2020, he moved to Beijing to started his independent research group. His current research interests include nanobiotechnology, biocatalysis, synthetic biology and adaptive biochemical systems. He was recognized as a finalist of the 2020 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists.
Academic achievements:
1.Youqing Wang, Xukai Ye, Yue Feng, Haoqian Wang, Xiaofan Lin, Xin Ma*, Yifei Zhang*. BBATProt: A framework predicting biological function with enhanced feature extraction via explainable deep learning. Brefings in Bioinformatics, in revision.
2.Ning Ding; Yaoyukun Jiang; Sangsin Lee; Zihao Cheng; Xinchun Ran; Yujing Ding; Robbie Ge; Yifei Zhang*; Zhongyue Yang*. Enzyme Miniaturization: Revolutionizing Future Biocatalysts. Biotechnology Advances. 2025, 82, 108598.
3.Hao Xing, Ekram Akram, Rohan Ali, Yunzhengshan Gao, Yifei Zhang*. Diluted alkaline pretreatment in hexafluoroisopropanol facilitates chemoenzymatic depolymerization of polyethylene terephthalate. Environmental Research, 2025, 279, 121794.
4.Yongjie Wang, Ekram Akram, Yujing Ding, Chengzhi He, Yifei Zhang*. Fusion of hydrophobicanchor peptides promotes the hydrolytic activity of PETase but not the extent of PET depolymerization. ChemCatChem, 2024, e202401252.
5.Shuang Chen,Ekram Akram, Weili Qiao, YifeiZhang*, Shozeb Haider*, Yufei Cao*. A Mechanistic Understanding of the Activity-Stability Trade-off inPETase. bioRxiv, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.09.598049
6.Ziyi Tong#, Shenyan Hou#, Zhenkun Zhang, Yifei Zhang*. Biochemical approaches for decoding the information stored with metabolites. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2024, 422, 136618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2024.136618
7.Yunzhenshan Gao, Hao Xing, Yifei Zhang*. Fabrication of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)-based microporous sponges for oil-water separation. Separation and PurificationTechnology, 2025, 354, 128721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2024.128721.
8.Ziye Zhao, Ning Nie, Xinwei Li, Ye Shi, Xudong Liu, Yifei Zhang*. Enzymatic phosphorylation of uridine and cytidine using calcium-based dual enzyme nanoflowers. Food Bioengineering, 2024, 3, 1-9.
9.Rohan Ali, Yifei Zhang*. Machine learning meets enzyme engineering: examples in the design of PET hydrolases. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2024, 18, 149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-024-2500-7
10.Ning Nie, Ziye Zhao, Xinwei Li, Yunting Liu, Yifei Zhang*. A proline-based artificial enzyme that favors aldol condensation enables facile synthesis of aliphatic ketones via tandem catalysis. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2024, 13, 1100-1104. doi/10.1021/acssynbio.4c00123
