About
Where I am now : Department of Chemistry, UMass Amherst
Currently I am a graduate student in Department of Chemistry, UMass Amherst, majoring in Computational Chemistry. I joined Prof. Jianhan Chen's lab in 2021. Interested in computational biophysics, I have been studying protein dynamics using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation, aiming at relating their structures with dynamics and thus functionalities. I am particularly interested in ion channels. Ion channels are integrated membrane proteins that can form nanometer-scale pores to regulate ion permeation. They play extremely important roles in many physiological processes. The most well-known one is the electrical signaling, i.e., the generation of action potebtial and restoration of resting potential. I have been studing TMEM16F and TRPV4, for which you could find more information in my Research page
where I have been to
I began studying chemistry in Huazhong University of Science and technology in 2012, after which I decided to dive deeper into the biochemistry world. I earned my Master's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. During this time, I learnt how to do organic synthesis starting from synthetic route design, basic protein expression procedure (PCR, *E. coli* expression, purification, and characterization) as well as genetic code expansion technique for incorporation of an unnatural amino acid into specific sites of a protein.
My interest shifted to computational biophysics after my graduation though. I got a job in Beijing Jingtai corporation as a biomolecular drug designer during which I finished my training in computational biophysics and ROSETTA (such as ligand docking, homology modelling and ddg calculations). At that time, our biomolecule design team created a Chinese version ROSETTA learning platform to provide a more friendly ROSETTA resources to inspire more Chinese learners. Besides, I designed programs to identify unstable sites of antibodies only based on their sequences, providing a early-stage computational screening for antibody development and optimization. Another project worthy of mentioning is that our team used ROSETTA to predict possible mutations in the spike protein of COVID19 virus that could enhance its ability to infect human cells DOI.
Where/What I intend to go/do next
I am now a thrid-year Ph.D candidate after passing the ORP exam in the Chemistry department. I intend to continue my studies in protein dynamics and hope I could dig deeper into both the scientific research in biophysics and computational techniques for MD simulations. I hope further betterment of my skills could benefit myself for future possible post-doc or industry positions. I am constantly seeking for cooperation opportunities in both academia and industry.