Prof. Liu, Chuan Fa
Biotechnology and drug discovery – Our research involves combined use of molecular biology, cell biology, biophysics and organic chemistry approaches to develop tools for the discovery and design of protein-based therapeutics, in particular bioconjugates as precision medicines for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases. We have built a chemo-enzymatic bioconjugation technology platform for the biomanufacturing of homogeneous ADCs and other bioconjugates. We develop methods for intracellular drug delivery, including the delivery of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids. We also use structure-based drug design and medicinal chemistry to develop small molecule drugs such as anti-malaria, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer agents.
Bioactive peptides – we develop new methods for the discovery and design of synthetic peptides, cyclopeptides and peptidomimetics as medicinal agents to fight cancer, metabolic disorders and infectious diseases.
Chemical biology – Our lab also has a long tradition in peptide and protein chemistry research where we have been developing new methods for protein synthesis and site-specific modification to enable protein structure-function studies, such as elucidation of protein post-translational modifications.
Research Areas
Senior Research Fellow
PhD Student
Research Fellow
Research Fellow
- Xia, Y., Li, F., Zhang, X., Balamkundu, S., Tang, F., Hu, S., Lescar, J., Tam, J.P., and Liu, C.-F. “A Cascade Enzymatic Reaction Scheme for Irreversible Transpeptidative Protein Ligation.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 145, no. 12 (2023): 6838–6844. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c13628
- Zhang, D., Wang, Z., Hu, S., Balamkundu, S., To, J., Zhang, X., Lescar, J., Tam, J.P., and Liu, C.-F. “pH‑Controlled Protein Orthogonal Ligation Using Asparaginyl Peptide Ligases.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 143, no. 23 (2021): 8704–8712. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c02638
- Bi, X., Yin, J., Nguyen, G.K.T., Rao, C., Abdul Halim, N.B., Hemu, X., Tam, J.P., and Liu, C.-F. “Enzymatic Engineering of Bacterial Cell Surfaces Using Butelase 1.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 56, no. 27 (2017): 7822–7825. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201703317
- Li, F., Allahverdi, A., Yang, R., Lua, G.B.J., Zhang, X., Cao, Y., Korolev, N., Nordenskiöld, L., and Liu, C.-F. “A Direct Method for Site‑Specific Protein Acetylation.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 50, no. 41 (2011): 9611–9614. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201103754
- Yang, R., Pasunooti, K.K., Li, F., Liu, X., and Liu, C.-F. “Dual Native Chemical Ligation at Lysine.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 131 (2009): 13592–13593. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja905491p