Name: Ji Yu
Title:Professor
Email: yuji@mail.buct.edu.cn
Office Address: Room 801, High-End Technology Tower
Education:
September 2008–July 2012 Beijing University of Chemical Technology Applied Chemistry Bachelor’s Degree
September 2012–June 2015 Beijing University of Chemical Technology Chemistry Master’s
September 2015–May 2020 RWTH Aachen University, Germany Biotechnology Ph.D.
Work Experience:
January 2020–May 2020 Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, Postdoctoral Researcher
May 2020–May 2024 Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, Research Group Leader
May 2023–May 2024 SeSaM Biotechnology, Germany, Chief Scientist (Part-time)
June 2024–November 2025 School of Life Sciences and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Associate Professor
December 2025–Present Professor, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Main Research Areas:
Protein engineering, enzyme catalysis
Academic Affiliations:
Guest Editor for the journal Bioresources and Bioprocessing; Member of the German Center for Bioeconomy Science (BioSC)
Academic Achievements:
Selected as a National-Level Young Talent; principal investigator on two National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) projects, one project and one subproject under the National Key Research and Development Program; previously led or participated in eight projects funded by the European Commission (EU), the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); participated in projects such as the PetroChina Innovation Fund.
Has published over 50 SCI-indexed papers, including more than 30 as first or corresponding author in journals such as Chem, Angew. Chem. (Int. Ed.), ACS Catal., Adv. Sci., and Green Chem.; was also invited to write a chapter in the internationally renowned series Methods in Enzymology.
Representative Publications:
2026
[1]Li, X., Ji, Y.*, Li, G., Meng, S., Zhang, P., Liu, Y., Ding, E., Sun, K., Tan, T. *, Schwaneberg, U.*, Mimicking a solvent interface at the substrate access channel of nylonase accelerates nylon degradation,Green Chemistry, 2026, 28 (3), 1722-1733
[2]Meng, S., Ji, Y.*, Yew, M., Zhu, L., Schwaneberg, U.*, Lessons learned on how to reengineer enzymes for improved performance in ionic liquids: insights from BSLA saturation mutagenesis library, Green Chemistry, DOI: 10.1039/D5GC04809E.
2025
[1] Lu, Y., Bourdeaux, F., Nian B., Manimaran, P, Verma B., Rommerskirchen M., Bold, S., Zhu, L., Ji, Y.*, Schleifenbaum, J., Schwaneberg, U.*, Engineered material binding peptide empowers biocatalysis in stainless steel flow reactors for phosphate recovery, 2025, Chem, 11,102395.
[2]Zhang, P #, Dong, Z. #, Meng, S., Li, Z., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, Anchor Peptide-based Immobilization Strategy Promote the Applications of Pickering Emulsion System in Glycosylation, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2025, e202500834.
[3] Meng, S., Li, Z., Zhang, P., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, Capturing intrinsic protein dynamics for explaining beneficial substitutions from protein engineering campaigns, Biotechnology Advances, 2025, 108660.
[4Li, Z., Meng, S., Ji, Y.*, Zhang, P., Nian, B., Zhu, C., Davari, M., Xu, H., Schwaneberg, U. *, Liu, L. *, Global dynamic design (GDD) empowers cytochrome P450s for improved catalytic performance,ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering,2025, 13 (10), 3834-3841.
[5]Sun, C., Li, Z.*, Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U., Li, Z.*, CMDmpnn: Combining comparative molecular dynamics and ProteinMPNN to rapidly expand enzyme substrate spectrum，Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 2025, 65 (6), 2741-2747.
2024
[1]Zhi, Z.#,*, Ji, Y.#, Schwaneberg, U.*, Advances in Sortase-Mediated Ligation: Leveraging the Power of Directed Evolution and Beyond, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2024, e202310910.
[2]Zhang, P. #, Meng, S. #, Li, Z. #, Hirtz, D., Elling, L., Zhu, L., Ji, Y. *, Schwaneberg, U.*, A Comparative Molecular Dynamics Approach Guides the Tailoring of Glycosyltransferases to Meet Synthetic Applications, Green Chemistry, 2024, 26 (16), 9186-9194.
[3]Dong, Z., Zhang, P., Slavko, K., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, Synergism of endo and exo-α-1,3-glucanases in α-1,3-glucan degradation: a kinetic study, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2024, 12, 24, 9123-9132 (Cover).
2023
[1]Feng, L., Gao, L., Besirlioglu, V., Essani, K., Kurkina, T., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, FACS based ultrahigh-throughput screening methodology for the directed evolution of oxidases, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2023, e202214999.
[2]Lu, Y., Hintzen, K., Kurkina, K., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, Directed evolution of material binding peptide for polylactic acid-specific degradation in mixed plastic wastes, ACS Catalysis, 2023, 13, 19, 12746-12754 (Cover).
[3]Lu, Y., Hintzen, K., Kurkina, K., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, A Competitive High‐Throughput Screening Platform for Designing Polylactic Acid‐Specific Binding Peptides, Advanced Science, 2023,10, 2303195.
[4]Meng, S.#, Li, Z.#, Ji, Y.#, *, Ruff, A., Davari M.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, Introduction of aromatic amino acids in electron transfer pathways yielded improved catalytic performance of cytochrome P450s, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2023, 49, 81-90.
[5]Meng, S.#, Li, Z.#, Zhang, P., Contreras, F., Ji, Y.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, Deep learning guided enzyme engineering of Thermobifida fusca cutinase for increased PET degradation, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2023, 50, 229-238.
[6]Zhang, P., Ji, Y.*, Meng, S., Li, Z., Hirtz, D., Elling, L., Schwaneberg, U.*, Phylogeny-based Directed Evolution Strategy Promote Efficient Catalysis of Novel Glycosyltransferases toward Bottleneck Substrates, Green Chemistry, 2023, 25, 8108 - 8116.
[7]Han, R., Gao, K., Zhou, J., Xu, G., Dong, J., Schwaneberg, U., Ji, Y.*, Ni, Y.*, A Self-Sufficient in vitro Multi-Enzyme Cascade for Efficient Synthesis of Danshensu from L-DOPA, ACS Synthetic Biology, 2023, 12, 1, 277-286.
2022
[1]Li, Z.#, Meng, S.#, Nie, K., Schwaneberg, U., Davari, M., Ji, Y.*, Liu, L.*, Flexibility reduction of loops surrounding the tunnel entrance in cytochrome P450 enhanced substrate access substantially, ACS Catalysis, 2022, 12, 12800-12808(Cover).
[2]Meng, S.#, Ji, Y.#,*, Dhoke, G., Davari, M.*, Schwaneberg, U.*, The molecular basis and enzyme engineering strategies for improvement of coupling efficiency in cytochrome P450s, Biotechnology Advances, 2022, 108051.
[3]Meng, S.#, Ji, Y.#, Davari, M., Liu, L., Schwaneberg, U.*, Modulating the coupling efficiency of P450 BM3 by controlling water diffusion through access tunnel engineering, ChemSusChem, 2022, 15(9), e202102434.
Message from the Faculty:
You reap what you sow.
Be a thoughtful, optimistic, and outgoing individual with strong execution skills.