Graduate Student
Nian was born and raised in China. Upon finishing his primary education, Nian traveled to California to obtain his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated with highest honors and received the Departmental Citation of his class, which was only awarded to the top student. During his education at UC Berkeley, he worked with Prof. John Prausnitz on the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production. He is now a PhD student in the Gregory Stephanopoulos lab to continue the research on biofuels. His primary projects include using metabolic flux analysis as a powerful tool to elucidate the physiology of an oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica and to engineer this organism for enhanced lipid production from acetate. In this process, the biologically synthesized lipids can be further upgraded into biodiesel with identical properties as conventional diesel while the feedstock, acetate, can be obtained from carbon dioxide fixing acetogens, thereby achieving the conversion from CO2 to fuels.
Email: nianl (at) mit (dot) edu
Publications
* denotes equal contribution
Luo Z.*, Liu N.*, Lazar Z., Chatzivasileiou A., Ward V., Chen J., Zhou J., Stephanopoulos G. Enhancing Isoprenoid Synthesis in Yarrowia lipolytica. In review
Mano J., Liu N., Hammond J., Currie D., Stephanopoulos G. Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica for the Utilization of Acid Whey. Accepted
Liu N., Santala S., Stephanopoulos G. Mixed Carbon Substrates: A Necessary Nuisance or a Missed Opportunity? Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2019. In press link
Park J.O.*, Liu N.*, Holinski K.M., Emerson D.F., Qiao K., Woolston B.M., Xu J., Lazar Z., M. Islam M.A., Vidoudez C., Girguis P.R., Stephanopoulos G. Synergistic Substrate Cofeeding Stimulates Reductive Metabolism. Nature Metabolism, 1 (6), 2019 link
Emerson D.F., Woolston B.M., Liu N., Donnelly M., Currie D.H., Stephanopoulos G. Enhancing Hydrogen‐dependent Growth of and Carbon Dioxide Fixation by Clostridium ljungdahlii through Nitrate Supplementation. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 116 (2), 2019 link
Adbel-Mawgoud A.*, Markham K.*, Palmer C.*, Liu N.*, Stephanopoulos G., Alper H. Metabolic Engineering in the Host Yarrowia lipolytica. Metabolic Engineering, 50, 2018 link
Lazar Z.*, Liu N.*, Stephanopoulos G. Holistic Approaches in Lipid Production by Yarrowia lipolytica. Trends in Biotechnology, 36 (11), 2018 link
Xu J., Liu N., Stephanopoulos G. Application of metabolic controls for the maximization of lipid production in semicontinuous fermentation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (27), E5308-E5316, 2017. link
Li Z., Qiao K., Liu N., Stephanopoulos G. Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica for Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate production. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology, 44 (4-5), 605-612, 2016. link
Liu N., Qiao K., Stephanopoulos G. 13C Metabolic Flux Analysis of Acetate Conversion into Lipids by Yarrowia lipolytica. Metabolic Engineering, 38, 86-97, 2016. link
Yang F., Afzal W., Cheng K., Liu N., Pauly M., Bell A. T., Prausnitz J. M. Nitric-acid Hydrolysis of Miscanthus Giganteus to Sugars Fermented to Bioethanol. Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering, 20 (2), 304-314, 2015. link
