Liu Zhihua, a doctoral supervisor, is a specially appointed researcher under the "Beiyang Scholar Talent Program" and a tenured associate professor at Tianjin University, as well as the chief scientist of a National Key R&D Program project. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Bioengineering and Master's degree in Biochemical Engineering from Tianjin University, and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He previously worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher and later as a Research Scientist at Texas A&M University in the United States.

To date, he has published over 100 SCI papers in internationally authoritative academic journals, including Nature Communications, The Innovation, Trends in Biotechnology, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Biotechnology Advances, JACS Au, Green Chemistry, Chemical Engineering Journal, Bioresource Technology, and ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. He served as the invited editor for an English monograph in the field of "biorefining" published by Springer, contributed to five English monographs, and filed more than 20 patent applications. His publications have been cited over 5,000 times, with an H-index of 36 and an i10-index of 62. More than 20 of his SCI papers have been recognized as ESI Highly Cited Papers or featured as highlights or cover articles in journals such as Nature Communications, Trends in Biotechnology, JACS Au, and Green Chemistry. He was invited to organize the special issue on "Biorefining" for the 25th anniversary of Green Chemistry and the "Energy Biotechnology" special issue for Current Opinion in Biotechnology. He serves as a (youth) editorial board member for several SCI journals, including Carbon Resources Conversion and Green Carbon, and has been invited as a reviewer for over 50 international journals, such as Nature Communications and Advanced Science. He has delivered more than 50 plenary, keynote, invited, or oral presentations at domestic and international conferences, and his research findings have been covered by dozens of media outlets.

• Chief Scientist of the National Key R&D Program "Frontier Biotechnology" Key Project

• Tianjin High-Level Young Talent Program (Overseas)

• Tianjin University "Beiyang Scholar Talent Program" (Overseas)

• Tianjin University Doctoral Supervisor "Summit Plan" and "Youth Pioneer Mentor"

• Included in Stanford University's Global Top 2% Scientists List for five consecutive years (2021–2025) 

• Jiangsu High-Level Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Introduction Program (Double Innovation Talent)

• Nantong City, Jiangsu Province "Jianghai Talent" High-Level Entrepreneurial Leading Talent

• Haimen District, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province "Dongzhou Talent" High-Level Entrepreneurial Leading Talent

• Youth Committee Member of the Biochemical Engineering Division of the Chinese Society of Chemical Engineering

• Supervisor for National Graduate Scholarship recipients for three consecutive years (2023–2025) (6 master's and 1 doctoral student)

• Supervisor for Tianjin University Outstanding Master's Theses for two consecutive years (2024–2025) (5 master's students)

• Supervisor for Tianjin University Outstanding Undergraduate Theses for three consecutive years (2023–2025) (6 undergraduates)

• Supervisor for National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program

  Class Mentor for the Leading Talent Class of the School of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University

• Mentor for the School of Chemical Engineering/School of Synthetic Biology, Tianjin University

• Outstanding Young Scholar Presentation Award at the 5th and 6th Biochemical Engineering Youth Forums Outstanding Oral Presentation Award at the 2024 Biochemical Engineering Forum for Advancing the "Dual-Carbon Strategy"

Research interests

• Biorefining and Bioproducts

• Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology

• Microbial Cell Factory Construction

• AI-Assisted Enzyme Design and Engineering

Ph.D. and Master's Student Recruitment Majors: Pharmaceutical Engineering, Bioengineering, Biology and Medicine (Professional Degree)

We welcome students with a passion for scientific research and backgrounds in Pharmaceutical Engineering, Bioengineering, Synthetic Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, or related fields to apply for Ph.D. or Master's programs. Please contact: zhliu@tju.edu.cn.

Additionally, the research group has established close collaborations with renowned universities and laboratories in the United States and Europe, providing opportunities for international exchange and further study abroad for interested students.