On the morning of May 25, 2017, the Engineering Research Center for Nanomaterials invited Prof. Du Liangcheng, who is working at University of Nebraska in the United States, to give a report titled as "Biosynthesis of New Antibiotics from Underexplored Environmental Microorganisms". The report was hosted by Prof. Wang Hua and the teachers and students from the Engineering Research Center for Nano Materials, Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials, Natural Medicine Key Laboratory, and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering participated in the report.
Prof. Du demonstrated the latest developments in the field of international antibiotic biosynthesis through three examples. Taking the case of the antifungal HSAF, an antifungal active substance produced by the enzyme Lysobacter, he introduced the biosynthesis of a polyketide synthase-non-ribosomal polypeptide synthetase (PKS-NRPS) antibiotic. The unique phenomenon of PKS was repeatedly used; the NRPS type of antibiotic WAP was taken as an example to introduce the way of NRPS biosynthesis in bacteria; in addition, he also briefly demonstrated its latest research progress in the biosynthesis of phenazine antibiotics.
Prof. Du's report focused on the bio-organic synthesis. The content of the report was fascinating. After the report, teachers and students had in-depth discussion. Through the wonderful report he had brought, the teachers and students had a deep understanding of the antibiotic biosynthesis.
Biography
Prof. Du Liangcheng received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark in 1997. He did postdoctoral research in the University of California, Davis, USA from 1997 to 2001, and he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States in 2001. Then, he was promoted to associate professor and tenure in 2007 and to professor in 2013. At present, he is mainly engaged in research on biosynthetic mechanisms, gene cloning and expression, and metabolic engineering of novel antibiotics, biocontrol natural products, and mycotoxins contaminated with food. It involves biochemistry, molecular biology, natural pharmaceutical chemistry, and bioengineering. He has presided over more than 10 projects such as the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, United States, the Nebraska Research Foundation, the Overseas Young Scholars Fund (Jingqing Class B) of and the Joint Research Fund for Young Scholars in Abroad of National Natural Science Foundation of China. Published more than 90 articles, the total number of citations> 3200, H-index = 32, including 9 articles with an impact factor over 10. In 2016, he won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award, College of Arts and Sciences, UNL.
