Research Interest
Enzymes catalyze the most challenging transformations, such as nitrogen fixation and methane oxidation, under exceptionally mild conditions. However, fully harnessing their potential for synthetic applications is still in the infancy. Dr. Runze Mao’s lab is focused on developing innovative biocatalytic strategies by integrating chemistry, biology, and artificial intelligence to address major challenges in synthesis, catalysis, and biomolecular engineering. By combining interdisciplinary approaches from synthetic chemistry, synthetic biology, computational chemistry, and computational biology, we aim to redesign and expand nature’s biosynthetic machinery to explore uncharted chemical spaces. These efforts will deepen our understanding of fundamental enzymology and reaction mechanisms, thereby advancing synthetic biology and facilitating the rapid assembly of molecules with biomedical and materials significance. Dr. Runze Mao has published 22 high-impact academic papers in enzyme catalysis and synthesis, including 11 papers as the first author in prestigious international journals, including Nat. Catal. (2 papers), Nat. Chem. (1 paper), Nat. Synth. (2 papers), J. Am. Chem. Soc. (3 papers), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2 papers), and Chem. Sci. (1 paper).
Biography
Dr. Runze Mao’s scientific journey began at Peking University under Prof. Xin-Shan Ye. His work led to photo-induced glycosylation methods later applied to automated glycan assembly. After earning master’s degree with honors in 2016, he joined Prof. Xile Hu’s group at EPFL, Switzerland. There, he innovated green catalytic transformations from feedstocks to value-added compounds. In September 2020, he obtained his PhD in chemistry with honors. Dr. Mao then honed his expertise in directed evolution and biocatalysis as a postdoctoral researcher under Prof. Frances H. Arnold (2018 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry) at Caltech, USA. He expanded the catalytic repertoire of metalloenzymes, addressing pressing challenges at the interface of biological and synthetic chemistry. Dr. Mao has published papers in top journals, including Nat. Catal. (2), Nat. Chem. (1), Nat. Synth. (2), JACS (3), and Angew. Chem. (2), and his academic excellence has been recognized with many awards, including the Reaxys Global PhD Prize finalist, and the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.
From August 2024, Dr. Mao assumed the role of Assistant Professor at Tsinghua iBHE, bringing his diverse expertise to bear on new scientific frontiers.
Education and Professional Experience
2024.08-now Tsinghua University, Assistant professor
2021.01-2024.06 California Institute of Technology (Caltech, USA), SNSF Postdoc., (Advisor: Prof. Frances H. Arnold, recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
2020.09-2020.12 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), Postdoc., (Advisor: Prof. Xile Hu, Academy of Europe)
2016.07-2020.09 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), Chemistry and chemical engineering, Ph.D.
2013.09-2016.07 Peking University, Chemical biology, Master’s degree
2009.09-2013.07 Henan Normal University, Chemistry, Bachelor’s degree
毛润泽课题组研究方向
酶在异常温和的条件下催化最具挑战性的转化，例如氮固定和甲烷氧化。但是，充分利用其合成应用的潜力仍亟待发掘。 毛润泽博士的实验室致力于通过整合化学，生物学和人工智能来制定创新的生物催化策略，以应对合成，催化和生物分子工程方面的主要挑战。通过结合合成化学，合成生物学，计算化学和计算生物学的跨学科方法，我们旨在重新设计和扩展自然的生物合成机制，以探索未知的化学空间。这些努力将加深我们对基本酶学和反应机制的理解，从而进步合成生物学，并促进分子快速组装具有生物医学和材料的意义。 毛润泽博士发表了 22 篇有关酶催化和合成的高影响力学术论文，其中 11 篇论文作为著名国际期刊的第一篇作者，包括 Nat. Catal.（2篇），Nat. Chem.（1篇），Nat. Synth.（2篇），J. Am. Chem. Soc.（3篇），Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.（2篇）和 Chem. Sci.（1篇）。
导师背景
毛润泽博士的科研之路始于北京大学叶新山教授的指导。他的研究成果开创了光诱导糖基化方法，并应用于自动化糖基组装。2016 年以优异成绩获得硕士学位后，他加入瑞士洛桑联邦理工学院胡喜乐教授课题组，创新发展了从原料到增值化合物的绿色催化转化技术。2020 年 9 月，他以优异成绩获得化学博士学位。随后，毛润泽博士在美国加州理工学院 Frances H. Arnold 教授（2018 年诺贝尔化学奖获得者）的指导下从事博士后研究，在定向进化和生物催化领域深造。他扩展了金属酶的催化功能，解决了生物和合成化学交叉领域的紧迫挑战。毛润泽博士在 Nat. Catal.（2）、Nat. Chem.（1）、Nat. Synth.（1）等顶级期刊上发表过论文。毛润泽博士是 JACS（3）和Angew. Chem.（2）的特邀作者，他的学术成就获得了许多奖项的认可，包括 Reaxys 全球博士奖决赛入围者以及中国政府优秀自费留学生奖。
自 2024 年 8 月起，毛润泽博士将担任清华大学 iBHE 助理教授，将其多元化的专业知识应用于新的科学前沿。