معرفی
Chang C. Liu is a Professor in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology within the School of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He leads the Liu Laboratory for Synthetic Evolution, which focuses on engineering specialized genetic systems that surpass natural capabilities. His research spans synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and directed evolution, with particular emphasis on accelerating cellular evolution processes.
Dr. Liu's research interests center on creating living cells that dramatically accelerate evolution, reinterpret genetic codes, and record transient information as heritable mutations. His lab develops orthogonal genetic systems like OrthoRep for continuous hypermutation and directed evolution, enabling the discovery of useful biomolecules, biopolymers, and therapeutics. Key questions guiding his research include understanding the map between macromolecular sequence and function, how high-dimensional sequence spaces are productively searched, and how a gene's evolutionary past shapes its future.
His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on developing and refining continuous evolution platforms, with particular attention to plasmid copy number effects, mutation rate control, and applications for protein engineering. The lab has pioneered systems like ORACLE (OrthoRep Assisted Continuous Library Evolution) for evolving gene libraries against diverse selection pressures.
Dr. Liu actively mentors graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, with several team members leading significant publications. He has recently co-founded K2 Therapeutics, which is developing new antibody drugs targeting multipass membrane proteins, and is involved in establishing UCI's Institute for Engineering + Health focused on Rapid Antibody Engineering and Evolution.
The Liu Laboratory maintains an active presence in the synthetic biology community, with regular updates on research progress and lab news shared through their website and social media channels. The lab's work bridges fundamental understanding of molecular evolution with practical applications in protein engineering and therapeutic development.
