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 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.
Antimicrobial peptides and peptide-based therapeutic agents – 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. An emphasis is placed on the design and development of peptidic agents against mycobacterial infections and infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii.
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
Biologics and bioconjugates, Medicinal chemistry, Antimicrobial peptides, Peptide and protein chemistry, Chemical biology
Anika Bandyopadhyay
PhD Student
PhD Student
Devanand Shenoi Archana
Anand
PhD Student
Anand
PhD Student
Li Fupeng
Senior Research Fellow
Senior Research Fellow
Li Hongxia
PhD Student
PhD Student
Liu Jiayong
PhD Student
PhD Student
Ng Wei-Jie Brendan
PhD Student
PhD Student
Shanmugavel Gnanakalai
Research Associate
Research Associate
Xia Yiyin
Research Fellow
Research Fellow
Zhang Xiaohong
Senior Research Fellow
Senior Research Fellow
Zhao Wenlin
Visiting Graduate Student
Visiting Graduate Student
- Li, H., Xia, Y., Balamkundu, S., Liu, J., Li, F., Zhang, X., Lescar, J., Tam, J.P., Preiser, P.R., and Liu, C.-F. “Peptidyl Asparaginyl Ligase-Mediated Orthogonal Ligation at Non-Asx Peptide Bonds for d-Peptide Cyclization and Antibody Dual Labeling.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 148 (2026): 1989–1997. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c20426
- Pasunooti, K.K., Balamkundu, S., Liu, J., Zhang, Z., Li, F., Zhao, J., and Liu, C.-F. “Thioester Ligation with AAHO Peptides.” Organic Letters 27 (2025): 12425–12428. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.5c04144
- 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 (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 (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 (2017): 7822–7825. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201703317