Introduction
The Institute of Biochemistry of Zhejiang University has a doctoral program and a postdoctoral mobile station of biochemistry and molecular biology, with 5 professors (including 1 part-time professor), 5 associate professors and 3 lecturers. Members of the faculty include the Outstanding Young Scholar Award of the National Science Foundation, Zhejiang University Qiushi Distinguished Professorship, and etc. At present, there are more than 20 doctoral students and 30 master students.
The institute has undertaken a number of projects from National Natural Science Foundation of China (including National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Key Program, Excellent Young Scientists Fund, General Programs, Young Scientists Fund), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), National High Technology Research & Development Program of China (863 Program) and National Key Technologies Research & Development Program of China. It has won 1 Second Class Prizes of National Technology Invention Award, 6 Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, and many national invention patents. It has published many papers in SCI journals such as Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., Nat. Chem. Biol., Nat. Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Nucl. Acids Res., Mol. Biol. Evol., J. B. C., RNA, ACS Chem. Biol., Appl. Environ. Microbiol., Appl. Microbiol. Biotech. The institute attaches great importance to the teaching of postgraduates and undergraduates, and undertakes the teaching tasks of biochemistry, biochemical experiment, advanced biochemistry, proteomics and other professional courses of the university.
Research Areas
1. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) signaling
The G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest and most versatile group of cell surface receptors. Our research is focused on the metabolite-related GPCRs (GPR109A, GPR81 and GPR40) and neuropeptide GPCRs such as human neuropeptide receptors (GPR103 and NPSR) to elucidate their physiological roles in the regulation of various important biological processes, providing a critical clue to the new therapeutic strategies for treating different diseases.
2. RNA biology & Bio-pharmaceutics
RNA splicing and editing;New functions and regulatory mechanisms of non-coding RNA; Biopharmaceutical research on new type I diabetes and oral medications for Alzheimer's disease.
3. Glycobiology & Cancer biology
Chemical labeling and live cell imaging of cell surface glycosylation; the role of glycosylation in cancer development and progression; chemical remodeling cell surface glycosylation for immunotargeting of cancer cells; chemical and therapeutic intervention of cancer-associated glycosylation, highly sensitive technologies for cancer biomarker screening and validation.
4. Biodegradation & Microbial natural products
Aerobic biodegradation and regulation mechanism of polybrominated diphenyl ether, transformation of strains and proteins; alternate evolution of soil microbial flora and high-efficiency utilization of nitrogen in paddy fields, and regulation of microbial flora; identification of new microbial natural products, characterization of the biosynthetic pathways, mechanism and biological activities of microbial natural products.
Institute Director: YI Wen
Deputy Director: JIANG Hui