News - Yuan Lu Group @ Tsinghua University

Group News
Striving for excellence

2025
Jan. 29, 2025: Happy Chinese New Year!

2024
Sep. 04, 2024: Warm welcome to new group members Ziqi Liu & Wei Pei!
Aug. 31, 2024: Warm welcome to new group members Shiyi Lin, Junchen Liu & Shengxin Tong!
Aug. 22, 2024: Warm welcome to first-year graduate students Yiming Wang & Yi Wang!
Feb. 10, 2024: Happy Chinese New Year!

2023
Jul. 20, 2023: Our review article "Novel vectors and administrations for mRNA delivery" is online now on Small. Congrats, Bai and Wang!
Jun. 22, 2023: Our perspective article "Click chemistry as a connection tool: Grand opportunities and challenges" is online now on Chinese Journal of Catalysis. Congrats, Wang and Yang!
May. 29, 2023: Our sensor paper "MXene/perovskite-based bionic human odor sensor array with machine learning" is online now on Chemical Engineering Journal. Congrats, Hu and co-authors!
May. 01, 2023: Our mRNA paper "Tactics targeting circular mRNA biosynthesis" is online now on Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Congrats, Chen and Wang!
May. 01, 2023: Our cooperation work with Prof. Hao Zheng has been publised on Small, titled with "Nanotransducer-enabled wireless spatiotemporal tuning of engineered bacteria in bumblebee".
Mar. 18, 2023: Our membrane protein paper "Artificial lipid biomembranes for full-length SARS-CoV-2 receptor" is online now on Advanced Materials. Congrats, Ting, Xiaomei and co-authors!
Jan. 22, 2023: Happy Chinese New Year!
Jan. 18, 2023: Our artifical cell paper "Dynamic artificial cells by swarm nanorobotics and synthetic life chemistry" is online now on SCIENCE CHINA Materials. Congrats, Cheng and co-authors!

2022
Dec. 18, 2022: Our review article "Artificial olfactory biohybrid system: An evolving sense of smell" is online now on Advanced Science. Congrats, Qin, Wang and co-authors!
Dec. 05, 2022: Our robotics paper "Spatiotemporally actuated hydrogel by magnetic swarm nanorobotics" is online now on ACS Nano. Congrats, Wang, Liu and co-authors!
Nov. 29, 2022: Our SARS-CoV-2 paper "Cross-species binding spectrum of ACE2 to SARS-CoV-2 RBD" is online now on SCIENCE CHINA Life Sciences. Congrats, Xinjie and co-authors!
Sep. 30, 2022: Our microrobot paper "Bionic morphological design and interface-free fabrication of halfmoon microrobots with enhanced motion performance" is online now on Chemical Engineering Journal. Congrats, Dong and co-authors!
Aug. 07, 2022: Our artificial cell paper "Chemical-triggered artificial cell based on metal-organic framework" is online now on Chemical Engineering Journal. Congrats, Junzhu, Cheng-Yen and co-authors!
Apr. 10, 2022: Our paper "Engineering pollen-derived microstructures to reveal material morpho-performance paradigm" is online now on Small. Congrats, Dong and co-authors!
Mar. 23, 2022: Our cell-free paper "A temperature-controlled cell-free expression system by dynamic repressor" is online now on ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Junzhu & Chen!
Mar. 21, 2022: Our News&Views article "Textile-embedded cell-free biosensors" has been published on Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Mar. 02, 2022: Our microrobotics paper "Soft magnetic microrobot doped with porous silica for stability-enhanced multimodal locomotion in a nonideal environment" has been published on ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congrats, Shangsong, Dong & Yuping!
Feb. 01, 2022: Our microrobotics paper "Untethered microrobots for active drug delivery: from rational design to clinical settings" has been published on Advanced Healthcare Materials. Congrats, Dong & Ting!
Feb. 01, 2022: Happy Chinese New Year!

2021
Nov. 30, 2021: Our circular RNA paper "Circular RNA: Biosynthesis in vitro" has been published on Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Congrats, Xinjie!
Nov. 30, 2021: Our artificial cell paper "Modularize and unite: Toward creating a functional artiﬁcial cell" has been published on Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. Congrats, Chen & Junzhu!
Aug. 01, 2021: Our paper "Development and comparison of cell-free protein synthesis systems derived from typical bacterial chassis" has been highlighted as a August Featured Article on Bioresources and Bioprocessing. Congrats, Liyuan, Xiaomei & Ting!
Jul. 23, 2021: Our paper "3D magnetic field-controlled synthesis, collective motion, and bioreaction enhancement of multifunctional peasecod-like nanochains" has been published on ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congrats, Dong & Shangsong!
Feb. 12, 2021: Happy Chinese New Year!

2020
Nov. 25, 2020: Our paper "A sustainable and efficient artificial microgel system: Toward creating a configurable synthetic cell" has been published on Small. Congrats, Chen, Yuhao & Qi!
Nov. 20, 2020: Our paper "Compartmentalizing Cell-Free Systems: Toward Creating Life-Like Artificial Cells and Beyond" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Eunhee!
Aug. 21, 2020: Our paper "Bringing light into cell-free expression" has been selected as a Cover Article of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Peng, Junzhu & Eunhee!
Aug. 05, 2020: Welcome back, everyone, after the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak!
Aug. 01, 2020: Our paper "Advances in cell-free biosensors: Principle, mechanism, and applications" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Biotechnology Journal. Congrats, Liyuan!
Jun. 14, 2020: Our paper "Creating a locally crowded environment with nanoclay hydrogels for cell-free biosynthesis" has been selected as a Cover Article of Soft Matter. Congrats, Xinjie & Qi!
Feb. 01, 2020: Our paper "Flexible on-demand cell-free protein synthesis platform based on a tube-in-tube reactor" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Reaction Chemistry & Engineering. Congrats, Xiaomei!
Jan. 25, 2020: Happy Chinese New Year!

2019
Jul 02, 2019: Our book "Cell-Free Synthetic Biology" is published now.
May 02, 2019: An interview article from SynBioBeta is online now: Biology Unlocked: Emerging Applications of Cell-Free Systems. Please enjoy it!
Feb. 05, 2019: Happy Chinese New Year!

2018
Nov. 06, 2018: Welcome Eunhee Cho from Imperial College London joining us!
Nov. 01, 2018: Chen Wang and Xin Pu have started their graduation thesis training. Welcome!
Jul. 06, 2018: Dong Liu won the Tsinghua Outstanding Thesis Award. Congrats!
Jun. 04, 2018: Our research MTP (Massive Transformative Purpose) has been changed to "Crafting the Ultimate Artificial Life for Human Benefit".
May 09, 2018: Our paper "Virus-like particle engineering: From rational design to versatile applications" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Biotechnology Journal.
May 09, 2018: Our co-author paper "Nutritional and medicinal characteristics of Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) for applications in healthcare industry by artificial cultivation: A review" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Food Science and Human Wellness.
Mar. 19, 2018: "Cell-free Synthetic Biology Database" website founded by us is online now.
Feb. 16, 2018: Happy Chinese New Year!
Jan. 08, 2018: Dong Liu and Zhou Cao have started their graduation thesis training. Welcome and good luck!
Jan. 01, 2018: Happy New Year!

2017
Oct. 14, 2017: Prof. Lu won the HOU Debang Chemical Science and Technology Youth Award.
Aug. 21, 2017: Shengnan Ma and Qi Sun have joined the group! Welcome!
Jul. 04, 2017: Welcome international visiting graduate students: Damian Paterno from The University of Melbourne and George Booth from Imperial College London!
Jul. 03, 2017: Cheng Zhang and Xiaomei Lin both won the Outstanding Thesis Award. Congrats! Wish you have a wonderful future!
Jun. 21, 2017: Our two co-author papers about the applications of heparins on the treatment of inflammatory disorders, pulmonary injury and ﬁbrosis have been published on Carbohydrate Polymers.
May 11, 2017: Prof. Lu won the Best Presentation Award in the Biochemical Engineering Young Scholar Forum, Xuzhou, China.
May 05, 2017: Peng Zhang has joined the group! Welcome!
Apr. 20, 2017: Prof. Lu has been selected as the Guest Editor for the "Cell-free Synthetic Biology" Special Issue of the Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology journal. Please click here for details.
Apr. 06, 2017: Dong Liu, Yuhao Li, Zhongbo Li, Jianning Liu and Haoran Yang have joined the group for Student Research Training! Welcome!
Mar. 04, 2017: Our invited Review paper "Cell-free synthetic biology: Engineering in an open world" is online now!
Jan. 28, 2017: Happy Chinese New Year!

2016
Nov. 20, 2016: Xuanwei Ding, Xiaomei Lin, Cheng Zhang and Yunze Sun have joined the group! Welcome!
Oct. 23, 2016: Prof. Lu won a Young Scholar Award at ICMS 2016, Shanghai, China. Congratulations!
Sep. 01, 2016: The Lu lab has officially opened its doors for business.

Group News

Striving for excellence

2025

Jan. 29, 2025: Happy Chinese New Year!

2024

Sep. 04, 2024: Warm welcome to new group members Ziqi Liu & Wei Pei!

Aug. 31, 2024: Warm welcome to new group members Shiyi Lin, Junchen Liu & Shengxin Tong!

Aug. 22, 2024: Warm welcome to first-year graduate students Yiming Wang & Yi Wang!

Feb. 10, 2024: Happy Chinese New Year!

2023

Jul. 20, 2023: Our review article "Novel vectors and administrations for mRNA delivery" is online now on Small. Congrats, Bai and Wang!

Jun. 22, 2023: Our perspective article "Click chemistry as a connection tool: Grand opportunities and challenges" is online now on Chinese Journal of Catalysis. Congrats, Wang and Yang!

May. 29, 2023: Our sensor paper "MXene/perovskite-based bionic human odor sensor array with machine learning" is online now on Chemical Engineering Journal. Congrats, Hu and co-authors!

May. 01, 2023: Our mRNA paper "Tactics targeting circular mRNA biosynthesis" is online now on Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Congrats, Chen and Wang!

May. 01, 2023: Our cooperation work with Prof. Hao Zheng has been publised on Small, titled with "Nanotransducer-enabled wireless spatiotemporal tuning of engineered bacteria in bumblebee".

Mar. 18, 2023: Our membrane protein paper "Artificial lipid biomembranes for full-length SARS-CoV-2 receptor" is online now on Advanced Materials. Congrats, Ting, Xiaomei and co-authors!

Jan. 22, 2023: Happy Chinese New Year!

Jan. 18, 2023: Our artifical cell paper "Dynamic artificial cells by swarm nanorobotics and synthetic life chemistry" is online now on SCIENCE CHINA Materials. Congrats, Cheng and co-authors!

2022

Dec. 18, 2022: Our review article "Artificial olfactory biohybrid system: An evolving sense of smell" is online now on Advanced Science. Congrats, Qin, Wang and co-authors!

Dec. 05, 2022: Our robotics paper "Spatiotemporally actuated hydrogel by magnetic swarm nanorobotics" is online now on ACS Nano. Congrats, Wang, Liu and co-authors!

Nov. 29, 2022: Our SARS-CoV-2 paper "Cross-species binding spectrum of ACE2 to SARS-CoV-2 RBD" is online now on SCIENCE CHINA Life Sciences. Congrats, Xinjie and co-authors!

Sep. 30, 2022: Our microrobot paper "Bionic morphological design and interface-free fabrication of halfmoon microrobots with enhanced motion performance" is online now on Chemical Engineering Journal. Congrats, Dong and co-authors!

Aug. 07, 2022: Our artificial cell paper "Chemical-triggered artificial cell based on metal-organic framework" is online now on Chemical Engineering Journal. Congrats, Junzhu, Cheng-Yen and co-authors!

Apr. 10, 2022: Our paper "Engineering pollen-derived microstructures to reveal material morpho-performance paradigm" is online now on Small. Congrats, Dong and co-authors!

Mar. 23, 2022: Our cell-free paper "A temperature-controlled cell-free expression system by dynamic repressor" is online now on ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Junzhu & Chen!

Mar. 21, 2022: Our News&Views article "Textile-embedded cell-free biosensors" has been published on Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Mar. 02, 2022: Our microrobotics paper "Soft magnetic microrobot doped with porous silica for stability-enhanced multimodal locomotion in a nonideal environment" has been published on ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congrats, Shangsong, Dong & Yuping!

Feb. 01, 2022: Our microrobotics paper "Untethered microrobots for active drug delivery: from rational design to clinical settings" has been published on Advanced Healthcare Materials. Congrats, Dong & Ting!

Feb. 01, 2022: Happy Chinese New Year!

2021

Nov. 30, 2021: Our circular RNA paper "Circular RNA: Biosynthesis in vitro" has been published on Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Congrats, Xinjie!

Nov. 30, 2021: Our artificial cell paper "Modularize and unite: Toward creating a functional artiﬁcial cell" has been published on Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. Congrats, Chen & Junzhu!

Aug. 01, 2021: Our paper "Development and comparison of cell-free protein synthesis systems derived from typical bacterial chassis" has been highlighted as a August Featured Article on Bioresources and Bioprocessing. Congrats, Liyuan, Xiaomei & Ting!

Jul. 23, 2021: Our paper "3D magnetic field-controlled synthesis, collective motion, and bioreaction enhancement of multifunctional peasecod-like nanochains" has been published on ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congrats, Dong & Shangsong!

Feb. 12, 2021: Happy Chinese New Year!

2020

Nov. 25, 2020: Our paper "A sustainable and efficient artificial microgel system: Toward creating a configurable synthetic cell" has been published on Small. Congrats, Chen, Yuhao & Qi!

Nov. 20, 2020: Our paper "Compartmentalizing Cell-Free Systems: Toward Creating Life-Like Artificial Cells and Beyond" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Eunhee!

Aug. 21, 2020: Our paper "Bringing light into cell-free expression" has been selected as a Cover Article of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Peng, Junzhu & Eunhee!

Aug. 05, 2020: Welcome back, everyone, after the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak!

Aug. 01, 2020: Our paper "Advances in cell-free biosensors: Principle, mechanism, and applications" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Biotechnology Journal. Congrats, Liyuan!

Jun. 14, 2020: Our paper "Creating a locally crowded environment with nanoclay hydrogels for cell-free biosynthesis" has been selected as a Cover Article of Soft Matter. Congrats, Xinjie & Qi!

Feb. 01, 2020: Our paper "Flexible on-demand cell-free protein synthesis platform based on a tube-in-tube reactor" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Reaction Chemistry & Engineering. Congrats, Xiaomei!

Jan. 25, 2020: Happy Chinese New Year!

2019

Jul 02, 2019: Our book "Cell-Free Synthetic Biology" is published now.

May 02, 2019: An interview article from SynBioBeta is online now: Biology Unlocked: Emerging Applications of Cell-Free Systems. Please enjoy it!

Feb. 05, 2019: Happy Chinese New Year!

2018

Nov. 06, 2018: Welcome Eunhee Cho from Imperial College London joining us!

Nov. 01, 2018: Chen Wang and Xin Pu have started their graduation thesis training. Welcome!

Jul. 06, 2018: Dong Liu won the Tsinghua Outstanding Thesis Award. Congrats!

Jun. 04, 2018: Our research MTP (Massive Transformative Purpose) has been changed to "Crafting the Ultimate Artificial Life for Human Benefit".

May 09, 2018: Our paper "Virus-like particle engineering: From rational design to versatile applications" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Biotechnology Journal.

May 09, 2018: Our co-author paper "Nutritional and medicinal characteristics of Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) for applications in healthcare industry by artificial cultivation: A review" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Food Science and Human Wellness.

Mar. 19, 2018: "Cell-free Synthetic Biology Database" website founded by us is online now.

Feb. 16, 2018: Happy Chinese New Year!

Jan. 08, 2018: Dong Liu and Zhou Cao have started their graduation thesis training. Welcome and good luck!

Jan. 01, 2018: Happy New Year!

2017

Oct. 14, 2017: Prof. Lu won the HOU Debang Chemical Science and Technology Youth Award.

Aug. 21, 2017: Shengnan Ma and Qi Sun have joined the group! Welcome!

Jul. 04, 2017: Welcome international visiting graduate students: Damian Paterno from The University of Melbourne and George Booth from Imperial College London!

Jul. 03, 2017: Cheng Zhang and Xiaomei Lin both won the Outstanding Thesis Award. Congrats! Wish you have a wonderful future!

Jun. 21, 2017: Our two co-author papers about the applications of heparins on the treatment of inflammatory disorders, pulmonary injury and ﬁbrosis have been published on Carbohydrate Polymers.

May 11, 2017: Prof. Lu won the Best Presentation Award in the Biochemical Engineering Young Scholar Forum, Xuzhou, China.

May 05, 2017: Peng Zhang has joined the group! Welcome!

Apr. 20, 2017: Prof. Lu has been selected as the Guest Editor for the "Cell-free Synthetic Biology" Special Issue of the Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology journal. Please click here for details.

Apr. 06, 2017: Dong Liu, Yuhao Li, Zhongbo Li, Jianning Liu and Haoran Yang have joined the group for Student Research Training! Welcome!

Mar. 04, 2017: Our invited Review paper "Cell-free synthetic biology: Engineering in an open world" is online now!

Jan. 28, 2017: Happy Chinese New Year!

2016

Nov. 20, 2016: Xuanwei Ding, Xiaomei Lin, Cheng Zhang and Yunze Sun have joined the group! Welcome!

Oct. 23, 2016: Prof. Lu won a Young Scholar Award at ICMS 2016, Shanghai, China. Congratulations!

Sep. 01, 2016: The Lu lab has officially opened its doors for business.

Nov. 25, 2020: **Our paper "A sustainable and efficient artificial microgel system: Toward creating a configurable synthetic cell" has been published on Small. Congrats, Chen, Yuhao & Qi!**

Nov. 20, 2020: **Our paper "Compartmentalizing Cell-Free Systems: Toward Creating Life-Like Artificial Cells and Beyond" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Eunhee!**

Aug. 21, 2020: **Our paper "Bringing light into cell-free expression" has been selected as a Cover Article of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congrats, Peng, Junzhu & Eunhee!**

Aug. 01, 2020: **Our paper "Advances in cell-free biosensors: Principle, mechanism, and applications" has been selected as a Front Cover Article of Biotechnology Journal. Congrats, Liyuan!**

May 02, 2019: **An interview article from SynBioBeta is online now: Biology Unlocked: Emerging Applications of Cell-Free Systems.** Please enjoy it!