Innovating Biocatalysis by Integrating Chemistry, Biology and Artificial Intelligence

Research Highlights

“Stereodivergent atom-transfer radical cyclization by engineered cytochromes P450“ Qi Zhou, Michael Chin, Yue Fu, Peng Liu, and Yang Yang*, Science 2021, 374, 1612–1616.

“Stereoselective Amino Acid Synthesis by Synergistic Photoredox-Pyridoxal Radical Biocatalysis” Lei Cheng, Dian Li, Binh Khanh Mai, Zhiyu Bo, Lida Cheng, Peng Liu* and Yang Yang*, Science 2023, 381, 444–451.

Group News

Our first paper on SAM-dependent alkyltransferases is published in Nature Commnications. Congratulations to Shuyun and the team.

Our first paper on pyridoxal radical biocatalysis is published in Science! Congratulations to Lei, Dian, Binh, Zhiyu, and everyone involved in this project!!!

July 2023: Our paper is featured on the cover of Nature Catalysis in the July 2023 issue. Congratulations to Wenzhen and the team!

June 2023: We bid farewell to our undergraduate students Yunlong Zhao and Lida Cheng. Yunlong will pursue graduate research at MIT and Lida at Harvard. Good luck!
May 2023: Our paper on the further development of metalloredox radical biocatalysis is accepted by Nature Catalysis. Congratulations to Wenzhen, Yue and the team!
April 2023: Congratulations to our fourth year undergraduate students Yunlong Zhao and Lida Cheng on being admitted into top graduate programs at Harvard, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, Chicago among others!

June 2022: Yue, Betty and Wenzhen’s paper on the mechanism of atom transfer radical cyclases is accepted by JACS. Congratulations to the team!
June 2022: Congratulations to our undergraduate students!
- Yunlong received the 2022 Willard L. McRary Prize, Lida received the 2022 Robert H. DeWolfe Undergraduate Research Award, and Ben received the 2022 Richard and Leslie Anderson Scholarship.
May 6, 2022: Our paper on the enantioinduction mechanism of biocatalytic C-H amination with Prof. Peng Liu will be featured in the front cover of JACS.
December 23, 2021: Our group’s first paper is published in Science! Check it out!
November 2021: We welcome first-year graduate student Betty Chen to join our group!
November 2021: Welcome Dr. Rui Guo to join our group as a postdoctoral associate!
June 2021: Yunlong is one of the two recipients of this year’s Robert DeWolf Undergraduate Research Award. Congrats, Yunlong!
February 2021: Yang gave a talk at Dow on 02/25/2021. We look forward to the opportunity of collaborating with Dow scientists.
December 2020: We welcome our first graduate student, Michael Chin to join our lab.
September 2020: Welcome Dr. Qi Zhou to our lab! Qi came to us from the National University of Singapore.
July 2020: Our lab opens its doors in July! We are looking for graduate students, undergraduate students, postdocs and visiting scholars to join us to work on biocatalysis, biomimetic catalysis and biocatalytic routes to new materials. Please contact Prof. Yang (yang@chem.ucsb.edu) for further information.
May 6, 2020: Yang gave a talk entitled “Directed Evolution of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes for the Asymmetric Amination of C(sp3)-H Bonds” at the Virtual Biocatalysis and Protein Engineering Meet-Up.
March 2020: Yang accepted a position of assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). The Yang lab will open its doors in July 2020.
December 2019: Yang gave a talk entitled “Directed Evolution of Cytochromes P450 for the Asymmetric Amination of Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary C(sp3)-H Bonds” at the Southern California Bioinorganic Symposium at UCLA.

Invited Talks and Awards

April 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ in the Materials Department at Johns Hopkins University.
April 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Maryland.
April 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
April 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ in the Department of Biochemistry at Texas A&M University.
April 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ in the Department of Chemistry at Florida State University.
March 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ at the Chemistry Department of Boston College.
March 2024: Yang gave a talk entitled “Non-Native Fe-Dependent Atom Transfer Halogenases for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ at the Spring 2024 ACS Meeting in New Orleans in honor of Professor Michelle Chang’s ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry.
March 2024: Yang gave an invited seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis“ at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Kansas.
February 2024: Yang is named a Sloan Research Fellow in 2024! We are grateful to the Sloan Foundation for this support.

February 2024: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “Pyridoxal Radical Biocatalysis for the Stereoselective Synthesis of Non-Canonical Amino Acids” at the Chemistry and Biology of Peptides GRC in Ventura, CA
December 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the 3rd Applied Biocatalysis Summit in Philadelphia, PA.
October 2023: Yang is awarded a Packard Fellowship in 2023. We are grateful to the generous support from the Packard Foundation on our research!
See The Current for a highlight.
October 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the XXIII International Conference on Organic Synthesis (23-ICOS) in Shanghai, China.
September 2023: Yang gave a seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
September 2023: Yang gave a seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.
September 2023: Yang gave a seminar entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.
September 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at Merck & Co in Rahway, New Jersey.
August 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, Indiana.
August 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the 2023 Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) Annual Meeting.
July 2023: Yang received the ARO Young Investigator Award. We are grateful to the generous support from the ARO to our research.
July 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the Protein Engineering GRC.
July 2023: Yang gave an invited short talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the Enzymes, Coenzymes and Metabolic Pathways GRC.
June 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at Gententech.
June 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the 2023 Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference.
June 2023: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis” at the Pacific Symposium on Radical Chemistry (PSRC-10).
December 2022: Yang received the 2023 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award! We are grateful to the Thieme journals for their encouragement and their support to the synthetic organic community. Info about this award can be found here.
December 2022: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New-to-Nature Metalloredox Biocatalysis for Stereoselective Radical Transformations” at WIPOS 2022.
October 2022: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New-to-Nature Metalloredox Biocatalysis for Stereoselective Radical Transformations” at the Biocatalysis and Protein Engineering Congress.
October 2022: Yang gave an invited talk at Boehringer Ingelheim.
October 2022: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New-to-Nature Metalloredox Biocatalysis for Stereoselective Radical Transformations” at the 2022 ACS Western Regional Meeting (WRM).
August 2022: Yang gave an invited short talk entitled “New-to-Nature Metalloredox Biocatalysis for Stereoselective Radical Transformations” at the 2022 International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry (ISHC) Congress.
July 2022: Yang gave an invited talk entitled “New-to-Nature Metalloredox Biocatalysis for Stereoselective Radical Transformations” at the 2022 Biocatalysis Gordon Research Conference (GRC).
June 2022: Our biomimetic catalysis project is funded by the ACS Petroleum Research Fund. We are grateful to ACS PRF for supporting our work.
May 4, 2022: We received the Herman Frasch Foundation Grant to develop sustainable biocatalytic routes to agrochemicals. We are grateful to the Herman Frasch Foundation for their generous support.
March 2022: Yang gave a seminar in the chemistry department at North Carolina State University.
February 2021: Yang gave a talk at the 2021 Materials Research Outreach Program Symposium (MROP 2021). For detailed information, see: https://www.mrl.ucsb.edu/mrop2021.
Jan 4, 2022: Yang receives the NSF CAREER award to expand the toolbox of biocatalysis! We are grateful to the support from the NSF.