Liu Guoquan
Research Areas
Biological magneticresonance
Education & Positions
Xiangtan University, B.S., 2004.
Tsinghua University, M.S., 2007.
University of Oxford, Ph.D., 2012.
Max-Planck institute for biophysical chemistry, postdoctoral research fellow 2012-2013, Humboldt postdoctoral fellow 2014-2016.
Assistant professor (Tenure-track), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 2016.9-present.
Research Interests
Our research programmes focus on free radical biology and medicine and the application of free radicals as molecular probes in magnetic resonance at the cellular and prospectively the preclinical level. We discovered that certain photosensitizers could target cell membranes in photodynamic therapy and induce Ferroptosis, a recently termed cell death pathway exhibiting features of lipid peroxidation. We are also exploring the radical intermediates to reveal the mysterious molecular action mechanism of the antimalarial and anticancer drug Artemisinin. These intermediates may induce lipid peroxidation leading to Ferroptosis in several cancer cell lines including A549 and HT1080. Moreover, we achieved remarkable enhancement of 13C NMR signal by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude in a couple of molecules including metabolites, which may be used for in vivo detection of these molecules through magnetic resonance imaging. We also combined site direted spin labelling with electron paramagnetic resonance to study the mechanisms of cell penetrating peptides in damaging cell membranes, which can kill the majority of cancer cells in less than half an hour.
Grants and fundings
(1) Talent supporting program of Peking University, 1 million RMB, 2016, Principal Investigator.
(2) Quantification of hydroxide radical induced from PM 2.5 in Beijing, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 0.9 million RMB, 2016, Principal Investigator.
(3) Screening of antioxidants in natural products, New Era Health Industry co., Ltd. 0.5 million RMB, 2018, Principal Investigator.
Publications
(1) Liu, G.*; Levien, M.; Karschin, N.; Parigi, G.; Luchinat, C.; Bennati, M.*; One-thousand-fold enhancement of high field liquid nuclear magnetic resonance signals at room temperature , Nature Chemistry, 2017, 9(7), 676~680
(2) Liu, G.; Liou, S.H.; Enkin, N.; Tkach, I.; Bennati, M.;* Photo-induced radical polarization and liquid-state dynamic nuclear polarization using fullerene nitroxide derivatives , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2017, 19(47), 31823~31829
(3) Enkin, N.; Liu, G.*; Gimenez-Lopez, M.C.; Porfyrakis, K.; Tkach, I.; Bennati, M.*; A high saturation factor in Overhauser DNP with nitroxide derivatives: the role of N-14 nuclear spin relaxation , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2015, 17(17), 11144~11149
(4) Enkin, Ni.; Liu, G.*; Tkach, I.; Bennati, M.*; HighDNP efficiency of TEMPONE radicals in liquid toluene at low concentrations , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2014, 16(19),8795~8800
(5) Liu, G.; Gimenez-Lopez, M.C.; Jevric, M.; Khlobystov, A.N.; Briggs, G.A.D.; Porfyrakis, K.*; Alignment of N@C-60 Derivatives in a Liquid Crystal Matrix, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2013, 117(19), 5925~5931.
