Lihong Chai

Project: Removal of antibiotics from water: characterization of catalytic breakdown by computations and isotope effects

My topic will use the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole as a model substrate to explore and optimize the metabolic mechanism of sulfonamide cleavage by combining computational calculations and experimental work. From this, we aim to use the mechanistic understanding to computationally focus on directed evolution in an overarching pursuit to generate novel enzymes for curbing micropollutant contamination in drinking and wastewater.

Education:

Since 07/2021
Ph.D. thesis in Analytical Chemistry with Prof. Dr. Martin Elsner
Institute of Hydrochemistry, Chair of Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry, Technical University of Munich

09/2020 – 04/2021:
Research assistant in Prof. Dr. Ji’s group, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, China

09/2017 – 09/2020:
Master’s degree at the Department of Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, China
Master Thesis: Study on the coupling metabolic mechanism of organic pollutants by cytochrome P450 and the competitive reactivity of two different active oxidants of P450 (with Prof. Dr. Ji)

09/2012 – 06/2016:
Bachelor’s degree at the Department of Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Shanxi Agricultural University, Shanxi, China
Bachelor Thesis: Effects of four soil conditioners on soil nutrient and chromium content (with Prof. Dr. Hong)

Publications:

Lihong Chai, Huanni Zhang, Runqian Song, Haohan Yang, Haiying Yu, Piotr Paneth, Kasper P. Kepp, Miki Akamatsu, and Li Ji*. Precision Biotransformation of Emerging Pollutants by Human Cytochrome P450 Using Computational–Experimental Synergy: A Case Study of Tris(1,3–dichloro-2-propyl) Phosphate. Environmental Science & Technology, 2021, 55(20), 14037-14050.