Associate Professor and Master's Supervisor at the Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University. She earned her Master's degree from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, and completed Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 2021. Since 2022, she has been conducting postdoctoral research at the FUNSOM, Soochow University,and later joined the faculty as an Associate Professor.

Research Group:

Professor Zhuang Liu

Research Direction and Achievements:

In recent years, the focus has been on the field of targeted protein degradation, aiming to regulate the activity of pathogenic proteins that are difficult to target or have poor therapeutic effects with traditional drugs. By utilizing interdisciplinary methods including Chemical Biology and Molecular Engineering, molecular tools like functional nucleic acids and fusion proteins are developed to achieve high selectivity and safety in pathogenic protein degradation through rational design and directed evolution. Additionally, efforts are being made to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies based on functional nucleic acids. As the first author and co-corresponding author, 18 papers have been published in internationally renowned academic journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Chem, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., ACS Central Science, and Chemical Science. She serves as a Review Editor (in the section of Analytical Chemistry) and Guest Associate Editor (in the section of Medical and Pharmaceutical Chemistry) for the academic journal Frontiers in Chemistry.

Awards:

Overseas High-Level Young Talent, Category B

Jiangsu Province Excellent Postdoctoral Program

R.H.F. Manske Prize (University of Waterloo, Canada, 1/27, sole recipient)

Provost Doctoral Entrance Award (PDEA) for Women

Funding:

National Natural Science Foundation of China - Youth Project

Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation - Youth Project

China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

Research Papers:

1. X. Wang^#,L. Tian^#, Y. Li*, W. Yao, J. Zhu, H. Zhou, G. Chen, T. Chen, Z. Liu, W. Tan*, Y. Yang* A universal albumin drugs-cored spherical nucleic acid (ad-SNA) platform for targeted drug delivery, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2025, in press.

2.  J. Chen, Y. Li*, X. Liu, H. Li, J. Zhu, R. Ma, L. Tian, L. Yu. J. Li, Z. Liu, W. Tan, Y. Yang* “Antigen spatial matching polyaptamer nanostructure for blocking coronavirus infection and alleviating inflammation”, Chem, 2024, DOI:10.1016/j.chempr.2024.10.021.

3. Y. Li, X. Liu, L. Yu, X. Huang, X. Wang, D. Han*, Y. Yang*, Z. Liu* “Covalent LYTAC enabled by DNA aptamers for immune checkpoint degradation therapy”,J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2023, 145, 45, 24506–24521.

4. Y. Li, H. Gao, Z. Qi, Z. Huang, L. Ma, J. Liu* “Freezing‐assisted conjugation of unmodified diblock DNA to hydrogel nanoparticles and monoliths for DNA and Hg²⁺ sensing”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2021, 60 (23), 12985-12991.

5. Y. Li, B. Liu, Z. Huang and J. Liu* “Engineering base-excised aptamers for highly specific recognition of adenosine”, Chemical Science, 2020, 11 (10), 2735-2743.

6. R. Yuan^#,Y. Li^#, S. Han^#, X. Chen, J. Chen, J. He, H. Gao*, Y. Yang* “Fe-curcumin nanozyme-mediated reactive oxygen species scavenging and anti-inflammation for acute lung injury”, ACS Central Science, 2022, 8 (1), 10–21.

7. Y. Li, J. Liu* “Nanozyme’s catching up: activity, specificity, reaction conditions and reaction types”, Materials Horizons, 2020, 8, 336-350.

8. Z. Cheng¹, J. Wei¹, L. Gu, L. Zou, T. Wang, L. Chen, Y. Li*, Y. Yang, P. Li* “DNAzyme-based biosensors for mercury (II) detection: rational construction, advances and perspectives”,Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2022, 431, 128606.

9. Y. Li, J. Chen, J. Wei, X. Liu, L. Yu, L. Yu*, D. Ding*, Y. Yang* “Metallic nanoplatforms for COVID‑19 diagnostics: versatile applications in the pandemic and post‑pandemic era”, Journal of Nanobiotechnology, 2023, 21 (1), 255.

10. Y. Li, J. Liu* “Highly specific recognition of guanosine using engineered base excised aptamers”, Chemistry–A European Journal, 2020, 26 (60), 13644-13651.

11. Y. Li, M. Zandieh, and J. Liu* “Modulation of DNAzyme activity via butanol dehydration”, Chemistry–An Asian Journal, 2021, 16 (24): 4062-4066.

Contact:

Email: yqli719@suda.edu.cn

Edited by Juan Yang