主要从事材料、化学品及生物医药的绿色生物制造，结合蛋白质工程、代谢工程及合成生物学等交叉领域的前沿技术，综合利用工程学、生物学、化学和计算机科学等多学科交叉手段来研究酶及细胞催化过程中的重要基础科学问题及工业化应用技术。发展了非天然途径设计、新功能酶的挖掘与改造、原子经济的产品设计工程等系列新方法，成功应用于氨基酸及衍生物、生物基二元醇、精细化学品等重要产品的工业化生产。
● 教育与工作经历
2001-2005 清华大学化工系，学士
2005-2008 清华大学化工系/东京工业大学生命理工学院，硕士
2008-2012 德国汉堡工业大学，博士
2012-2013 德国汉堡工业大学，博士后
2013-2017 清华大学化工系，助理教授
2017-至今 清华大学化工系，副教授
● 研究领域
代谢工程、合成生物学、蛋白质工程
● 开设课程
《生物化学原理》本科生课程
《代谢工程》研究生课程
《化工实践》本科生课程
● 主要学术任职
● 代表性论文
1. Zhu F, Liu DH*, Chen Z*. Recent advances in biological production of 1,3-propanediol: new routes and engineering strategies，Green Chemistry, DOI: 10.1039/D1GC04288B (2022).
2. Li Z, Dong Y, Liu Y, Cen X, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Systems metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for high-level production of 1,3-propanediol from glucose and xylose，Metabolic engineering, 70,79-88 (2022).
3. Cen X, Liu Y, Chen B, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for de novo production of 1,5-pentanediol from glucose，ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(1), 192−203 (2021) .
4. Liu Y, Cen X, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for high-yield production of (R)-1,3-butanediol，ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(8), 1946−1955 (2021) .
5. Zhang Y, Li Z, Liu Y, Cen X, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Systems metabolic engineering of Vibrio natriegens for the production of 1, 3-propanediol，Metabolic Engineering, 65, 52-65 (2021) .
6. Li Z, Wu Z, Cen X, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Efficient production of 1, 3-propanediol from diverse carbohydrates via a non-natural pathway using 3-hydroxypropionic acid as an intermediate，ACS Synthetic Biology, 10 (3), 478-486 (2021) .
7.Zhong W, Zhang Y, Wu W, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Metabolic engineering of a homoserine-derived non-natural pathway for the de novo production of 1,3-propanediol from glucose，ACS Synthetic Biology, 8 (3), 587-595 (2019).
8. Wu W, Zhang Y, Liu DH, Chen Z*. Efficient mining of natural NADH-utilizing dehydrogenases enables systematic cofactor engineering of lysine synthesis pathway of Corynebacterium glutamicum，Metabolic Engineering, 52, 77-86 (2019) .
9. Chen Z*, Huang J, Wu Y, Wu W, Zhang Y, Liu DH. Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid from glucose and xylose，Metabolic Engineering, 39, 151-158 (2017) .
10. Chen Z*, Liu DH, Toward glycerol biorefinery: metabolic engineering for the production of biofuels and chemicals from glycerol，Biotechnology for Biofuels, 9 (1), 1-15 (2016) .
11. Chen Z, Zeng AP *. Protein engineering approaches to chemical biotechnology，Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 42, 198-205 (2016) .
12. Chen Z*, Huang J, Wu Y, Liu DH. Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the de novo production of ethylene glycol from glucose，Metabolic Engineering, 33, 12-18 (2016).
13. Chen Z, Geng F, Zeng AP *. Protein design and engineering of a de novo pathway for microbial production of 1, 3-propanediol from glucose，Biotechnology Journal, 10 (2), 284-289 (2015) .
14. Chen Z, Rappert S, Zeng AP*. Rational design of allosteric regulation of homoserine dehydrogenase by a nonnatural inhibitor L-lysine，ACS Synthetic Biology, 4 (2), 126-131 (2015) .
15. Bommareddy RR #, Chen Z#, Rappert S, Zeng AP*. A de novo NADPH generation pathway for improving lysine production of Corynebacterium glutamicum by rational design of the coenzyme specificity of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase，Metabolic Engineering, 25, 30-37 (2014) .