Di Liu

Biography

Di Liu is interested in harnessing the power of synthetic biology to engineer microorganisms for biofuel and bioproduct production. She specializes in developing novel synthetic biology tools, optimizing metabolic pathways, and advancing bioprocess technologies to enhance microbial biomanufacturing.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree: Materials Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China (2011)

Doctoral Degree: Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis (2017)

Postdoctoral Fellowships: Sandia National Laboratories

Liu’s educational background spans across materials chemistry, chemical engineering, and biological engineering. On the materials science side, she has participated in research projects on the synthesis of nano-materials for environmental applications. Then moving forward into the field of synthetic biology, she led a few projects on the development of genetically-encoded biosensors and exploring their applications in metabolic engineering.

Selected Publications

Adamczyk, P. A., Hwang, H. J., Chang, T. H., Gao, Y., Baidoo, E. E., Kim, J., … & Liu, D. (2025). The oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides engineered for biomass hydrolysate-derived (E)-α-bisabolene production. Metabolic Engineering, 90, 92-105.

Adamczyk, P. A., Jiang, T., Jetty, K., Ganesan, V., & Liu, D. (2025). Recent developments of oleaginous yeasts toward sustainable biomanufacturing. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 93, 103297.

Liu, D., Hwang, H. J., Otoupal, P. B., Geiselman, G. M., Kim, J., Pomraning, K. R., … & Gladden, J. M. (2023). Engineering Rhodosporidium toruloides for production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid from lignocellulosic hydrolysate. Metabolic Engineering, 78, 72-83.

Liu, D., Geiselman, G. M., Coradetti, S., Cheng, Y. F., Kirby, J., Prahl, J. P., … & Gladden, J. (2020). Exploiting nonionic surfactants to enhance fatty alcohol production in Rhodosporidium toruloides. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 117(5), 1418-1425.

Liu, D., & Zhang, F. (2018). Metabolic feedback circuits provide rapid control of metabolite dynamics. ACS synthetic biology, 7(2), 347-356.

Xiao, Y., Bowen, C. H., Liu, D., & Zhang, F. (2016). Exploiting nongenetic cell-to-cell variation for enhanced biosynthesis. Nature chemical biology, 12(5), 339-344.

Selected Book Chapter

Liu, D., Bentley, G., Chu, K., Zhang, F. (2016) Book Chapter: Design of Dynamic Pathways, Biotechnology for Biofuel Production and Optimization, Elsevier, 2016

Patents

Liu, D., Otoupal, P. B., Hwang, H., & Gladden, J. M. (2025). U.S. Patent No. 12,215,373. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Coradetti, S., Gladden, J. M., Liu, D., & Geiselman, G. M. (2023). U.S. Patent No. 11,560,576. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.