Office Location – E5 #03-03
Affiliations
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, NUS
Principal Investigator, NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI)
Biography
Dr. Zhi Li joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2006 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Before that, he was a group leader at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich’s Institute of Biotechnology, following postdoctoral research in organic synthesis at ETH Zurich and the University of Oslo. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Vienna in 1991.
His research focuses on biocatalysis for green chemical synthesis and pharmaceutical manufacturing. He is the lead PI of a NRF CRP program on “Green and Sustainable Pharmaceutical Manufacturing via Biocatalysis”. He served as the Biocatalysis Workstream Leader for the Pharmaceutical Innovation Program Singapore (PIPS) and as the Deputy President of the Singapore Catalysis Society. His awards include the IChemE Singapore Award for Sustainable Technology (2013), the BESS Achievement Award from the Bioenergy Society of Singapore (2018), and the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Singapore Catalysis Society (2023).
He has been an active contributor to the scientific community. He served as Co-Chair of the “Enzyme Engineering XXVII” conference held in Singapore (2023), a leading international forum on enzyme engineering technologies and applications. He was also a Guest Editor for the JACS Au Virtual Special Issue “Biocatalysis in Asia & Pacific” (2024). He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Bioresources and Bioprocessing and the Editorial Advisory Board of Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis.
Professional Appointments
- 2006 – present: Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore.
- 2006 – 2016: Fellow of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Program, Singapore-MIT-Alliance.
- 1994 –2005: Group Leader (1999-2005) & Scientist (1997-1998) at Institute of Biotechnology, Scientist (1996) at Institute for Polymer, and Postdoctoral Fellow (1994-1995) at Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland.
- 1992 –1993: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway.
Education
– Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna, Austria, 1991
– M.Eng. in Chemical Processing, Chinese Academy of Forestry, China, 1985
– B.Sc. in Chemistry, Nanjing University, China, 1982
Research Interest
– Biocatalysis for green and sustainable chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing
– Production of bio-based chemicals and fuels
– Enzyme engineering and evolution
– Cell engineering and whole-cell based biotransformations
– Enzyme immobilization and biotransformation with recyclable biocatalysts
– Single-step biocatalysis for enantioselective chemical synthesis
– Cascade biocatalysis for one-pot multi-step chemical synthesis
– Bioprocess development
– Synthetic biology
– Polymeric biomaterials
Current Research Projects
Current research projects are carried out with 7 research grants: 2 NRF CRP; 2 MOE-Tier 2; RIE2025 USS LCER PHASE 2; RIE2025 MTC IAF-PP; and Wilmar collaboration grant.
Selected Publications
- Kua, G.K.B., Nguyen, G.K.T.*, Li, Z.* Enzyme engineering for high-yielding amide formation: lipase-catalyzed synthesis of N-acyl glycine in aqueous media. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202217878.
- Xin, R., See, W.W.L., Li, X., Yun, H., Li, Z.* Enzyme-catalyzed Meinwald rearrangement with an unusual regioselective and stereospecific 1,2-methyl shift. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2022, 61, e202204889.
- Tian, K., Li, Z.* A simple biosystem for the high-yielding cascade conversion of racemic alcohols to enantiopure amines. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2020, 59, 21745- 21751.
- Choo, J.P.S., Sirota, F. L., See, W.W.L, Eisenhaber, B. Li, Z.* Engineering of styrene oxide isomerase for enhanced production of 2-arylpropionaldehydes: chemoenzymatic synthesis of (S)-Profens. ACS Catal., 2023, 13, 11268-11276.
- Jung, D., Li, X., Li, Z.* Engineering of hydroxymandelate oxidase and cascade reactions for high-yielding conversion of racemic mandelic acids to phenylglyoxylic acids and (R)- and (S)-phenylglycines. ACS Catal., 2023, 13, 1522-1532.
