Principal Investigator (PI)

Dr. Zhenhua Liu 刘振华(PI)

I obtained my PhD at Strasbourg University, French National Centre for Scientific Research, supervised by Prof. Danièle Werck-Reichhart. I then did two rounds of Postdoctoral research at Cornell University (Supervisor: Prof. Jian Hua) and John Innes Centre (Supervisor: Prof. Anne Osbourn), respectively. I am interested in how and why plants have synthesized such an exceptionally large number of functional and structural diverse small molecules, and the means that we human being can extract and transform these plant-derived chemistry into various uses for pharmaceutical, agricultural and industry applications.

Mail: zhenhua.liu@sjtu.edu.cn

Lab staff

Wenjuan Ji 姬文娟 (Research associate)

I received my Ph.D degree from the Department of Chemistry, Fudan University. My doctoral research mainly focused on the radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) enzymology, by using molecular probing and reaction modeling to understand the enzymatic mechanisms of this important cosubstrate in the biosynthesis of a number of natural and new-to-nature products. Now I work at the ZLab as a senior scientist, and my research interests include natural product biosynthesis, mechanistic enzymology (CYPs, RSMTs, GTases etc.) and plant chemistry.

Mail: jiwenjuan@sjtu.edu.cn

Yating Zhang 张雅婷 (Lab Technician)

I obtained my master’s degree at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, supervised by Prof.Wenqin Wang. I joined the faculty in GaoLab of my alma mater after graduation for three years. I am proficient in multi-omics joint analysis. Currently, I work in the group mainly handle data analysis, laboratory management, project management, etc. I am highly interested in the mysteries of plants and their active substances.

Mail: yating-zhang@sjtu.edu.cn

Jiaojiao Zhu 朱姣姣 (Postdoctoral Researcher)

I obtained my master’s degree at Nanjing Agricultural University, College of horticulture, supervised by Prof. Yuhua Wang. Plants can synthesize a large number of fatty acids, my focus is to apply the theory and method of plant gene clustering to rapidly explore genes related to fatty acid synthesis and the corresponding biological metabolic pathways. I am also interested in using synthetic biology to develop high-value natural compounds to serve humans’ purposes.

Mail: zhujojo@sjtu.edu.cn

Wanying He 何宛盈 (Postdoctoral Researcher)

I am passionate about understanding why plants invest significant energy in producing complex compounds and how these processes are regulated through intricate networks. I obtained my Ph.D. from University of Göttingen and the Julius Kühn-Institute in Germany, where I specialized in the biosynthetic pathways of plant secondary metabolites in carrots and their potential functions against fungal pathogens. My research interests focus on exploring the underlying mechanisms that drive the synthesis and regulation of these metabolites and their roles in plant defense and adaptation.

Mail: wanying.he@sjtu.edu.cn

Jianghu Bian 卞江虎 (Postdoctoral Researcher)

I received my Ph.D. from the College of Life Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. My doctoral research mainly focused on the transcription factors which regulate root development in plant. Currently, I am a Postdoc in Zlab, and focus on the root specialized metabolites in medicinal plant.

Mail: bianjianghu0103@sjtu.edu.cn

Aatif Rashid (Postdoctoral Researcher)

I completed my PhD under the mentorship of Dr Dhiraj Vyas at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, India, where my research focused on exploring the nutraceutical potential and cannabinoid regulation in Cannabis sativa. Then, I joined as a postdoctoral researcher in the Z-Lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where my research focuses on unravelling the transcriptional regulation of secondary metabolism in medicinal plants. My work aims to understand the molecular mechanisms and regulatory networks that control the biosynthesis of pharmaceutically important metabolites. By employing advanced molecular biology techniques, omics technologies, and bioinformatics tools, I strive to deepen our knowledge of metabolic pathways and their regulation.

Mail: waniaatifrashid@gmail.com

Lab students

Xuan Zhou 周玄(PhD student)

I obtained my master's degree from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University and now a PhD student in the ZLab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I am interested in using bioinformatics to understand the genome and metabolite evolution in plants.

Mail: xuan-er@sjtu.edu.cn

Ning An 安宁(PhD student)

I graduated from Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University with a bachelor's degree and I am currently studying in Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a master student. I am curious about elucidating the biosynthesis pathways of valuable natural products in plants by integrating plant genome, transcriptome and metabolome data sets. I am also interested in exploring the molecular evolution that has led to plant metabolic diversity over time.

Mail: anning0120@sjtu.edu.cn

Jianhua Wang 王建华(PhD student)

I received my Master's degree from Zhejiang A&F University, supervised by Prof. Jianqin Huang. I am a research assistant in the ZLab. I am fascinated by the richness and diversity of plant metabolites and want to learn more about them. I am currently working on pathway elucidation of natural products in medicinal plants using combination of genomics and metabolomics.

Hong Zhou 周弘(PhD student)

I obtained my bachelor’s degree at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Now I am a master student in the ZLab. I am interested in the chemical evolution in plants and I hope to discover valuable metabolites in plants that are beneficial for human beings.

Mail: red3013@sjtu.edu.cn

Ke Wu 邬可 (PhD student)

I am glad to become a member in the Z-lab as a Ph.D. student in 2024. I majored in Horticulture for master's degree at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Currently, I am studying the plant specialized metabolites and their biosynthesis. I'm so appreciated to learn more about the synthetic mechanism of these diverse natural products and explore the nature.

Mail: wuke-001215@sjtu.edu.cn

Xu Lu 陆续(Master student)

I graduated from Northwest A&F University with a bachelor's degree in Tea Science. I am currently a master student in Zlab. I am truly fascinated by the numerous valuable small molecules derived from medicinal plants and desire to elucidate their metabolic pathways. I hope to accomplish the de novo biosynthesis of useful compounds by contributing to plant synthetic biology.

Mail: luxu_syn@sjtu.edu.cn

Rongchi Li 黎容池(Master student)

I earned my bachelor's degree at Huazhong Agriculture University, majoring in Intelligence Agriculture. I joined Zlab in 2023 and now I am studying for a master's degree in Agronomy and Seed Industry. I hope to utilize bioinformatics tools to ascertain metabolic pathways in plants.

Mail: lrc011029@sjtu.edu.cn

Zelong Chen 陈泽龙(Master student)

I obtained my bachelor's degree at Yangzhou University. Now I have joined the Zlab as a master student. My major is Agronomy and Seed Industry. I am interested in extracting chemicals in plants that are useful to humans.

Mail: 65951114@sjtu.edu.cn

Haoyu Wang 王浩宇(Master student)

I graduated from Huazhong Agriculture University with a bachelor’s degree in horticulture. I joined the lab in 2024 and my major is horticulture. I am interested in plant metabolism and ready to learn a lot from the lab.

Mail: why020817@sjtu.edu.cn

Former members

Huijuan Wang 王会娟 (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2025.7-2022.12)
Changheng Shan 单长衡 (Master student, 2025.3-2022.9)
Jielong Peng 彭杰龙 (Undergraduate, 2021.7-2022.6)
Jiaxuan Peng 彭佳旋 (Undergraduate, 2021.7-2022.6)
Haitao Cai 蔡海涛 (Undergraduate, 2022.7-2023.6)