Fanghua Liu

Education & Experiences

  2011-2013     Postdoctoral Research Associate

                        Department of Microbiology, Universityof Massachusetts,

                        Amherst, MA, USA

  2009-2011     Postdoctoral Fellow

                        Max-Planck-Institut fur terrestrische Mikrobiologie,

                        Marburg, Germany

  2002-2009     Ph.D. Major: Molecular Microbial Ecology

                        Instituteof PlantPhysiology and Ecology

                        Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences

                        ChineseAcademyof Sciences

  1998-2002     BS   Major: Biological Engineering

                        Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences

                        HubeiUniversity

Awards & Achievements

  2009-2011.Fellowship from Max Planck Society.

  2005-2006.“MeritStudent Award” inGraduateUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No. 0005233).

  2002-2003.“Excellent student scholarship” in Instituteof Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  1998-2002.“Integrated first-class scholarship” inHubeiUniversity.

Research Interests

  1.CO₂ fixationby anaerobic digestion for biogas production.

  2. Bioenergy related products from waste water or gas.

  3. Aggregates of syntrophic partners involed in anaerobic degradation.

  4. Artificial aggregation process analyzed by pure cultures.

  5. Syntrophic oxidization stimulated by materials including nanoparticles.

Publications

1. Fanghua Liu, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Amelia Elena Rotaru, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. 

    Naonoparticles accelerate methanogenesis in an anaerobic digester. 2012 (In preparation).

2. Fanghua Liu, Amelia Elena Rotaru,Pravin Malla Shrestha, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley.

    Naonoparticles stimulate syntrophic methanogenic coculture. 2012 (In preparation).

3. Fanghua Liu, Amelia Elena Rotaru, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Kelly Flanagan, Nikhil S. Malvankar,

    Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. Naonoparticles as electron shuttles stimulate syntrophic anaerobic

    microbial respiration. 2012 (In preparation).

4. Rotaru AE, Shrestha PM, Liu F, Smith J, Tremblay PL, Flores DC and Lovley DR. Syntrophic

    interaction between a Geobacter and a methanogen possibly mediated by direct interspecies electron

    transfer. (In preparation)

5. Fanghua Liu, Ralf Conrad. Diverse H₂-CO₂utilizing homoacetogens selected by temperature 

    in methanogenic rice field soil.  2012 (be prepared to submit to ISME J).

6. Alei Geng, Gen Zou, Xing Yan, Qianfu Wang, Jun Zhang, Fanghua Liu, Baoli Zhu and Zhihua

    Zhou. Expression and characterization of a novel metagenome-derived cellulase Exo2b and its

    application to improve cellulase activity in Trichoderma reesei. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2012

    DOI: 10.1007/s00253-012-3873-y. PDF

7. Fanghua Liu, Ralf Conrad. Chemolithotrophic acetogenic H₂/CO₂ utilization in Italian rice field

    soil. The ISME Journal. 2011, 5: 1526-1539. PDF

8. Fanghua Liu and Ralf Conrad. Thermoanaerobacteriaceae oxidize acetate in methanogenic rice

    field soil at 50ºC. Environmental Microbiology. 2010, 12: 2341–2354. PDF

9. Fanghua Liu*, Sibao Wang*, Jianshe Zhang, Jun Zhang, Xing Yan, Haokui Zhou,Guoping

    Zhao, Zhihua Zhou. The structure of the bacterial and archaeal community in a biogas digester as

    revealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rDNA sequencing analysis. Journal of

    Applied Microbiology. 2009, 106(3): 1022-1032. PDF

  *：These authors have contributed equally to this work.

10. Fanghua Liu, Guofang Lin, Guang Gao, Boqiang Qin, Jianshe Zhang, GuopingZhao, Zhihua

      Zhou, Jianhua Shen. Bacterial and archaeal assemblages in sediments of a large shallow freshwater

      lake, Lake Taihu, asrevealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Journal of  

     Applied Microbiology.2009, 106(3): 952-966. PDF

11. X Yan, AL Geng, J Zhang, Fanghua Liu, L Cheng, YJ Wei, L Zhang, YZ Wang, SY Wang, SY

     Wang, BL Zhu, ZH Zhou. Discovery of functional genes and gene clusters in a metagenomic

      library from a biogas digester fed with rice straw using 454 pyrosequencing.(In preparation).

12. X Yan, HK Zhou, J Zhang, FH Hao, Fanghua Liu, AL Geng, YJ Wei, YZ Wang, HJ Zheng, L

      Zhang, Y Zhou, GP Zhao, HR Tang, SY Wang, ZH Zhou. Lignocellulose feeding-induced

      modulation of microbiome structure and metabolic flow in a biogas digester.(In preparation).

13.Yongzhen Tao, Yanling He,Yongqiang Wu, Fanghua Liu, Xinfeng Li, Wenming Zong,Zhihua

     Zhou.Characteristics of a new photosynthetic bacterial strain for hydrogen productionandits

     application in wastewater treatment.International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 2008,

     33(3): 963-937. PDF

14. Li Luo, FanghuaLiu, JiabiZhu, GuangqiaoYu. A LuxR family regulator, ExpR regulates the

     expression of motC operon from Sinorhizobium meliloti. Acta microbiologica Sinica. 2006,

     46(3): 474-477. PDF

15. Rong Xie, Zhishui He, FanghuaLiu, Huasong Zou, Jiabi Zhu, Guanqiao Yu. Identification of  

      genes induced during Medicago sativa nodule development by using the cDNA-AFLP

      technique.Chinese Science Bulletin. 2006, 51(17):2087-2094. PDF

Conference Presentation and Participation

1. Rotaru AE, Shrestha PM, Liu F, Tremblay PL, Smith J, Flores DC, Murnane M, Nagarajan H,

    Zengler K & Lovley DR. Direct interspecies electron transfer in methanogenic environments:

    genome-scale analysis of mechanisms in defined co-cultures and natural aggregates. (Poster)

    Genomic Science Contractor-Grantees Meeting, 26-29 February 2012 (Bethesda, MA, USA).

2. Fanghua Liu, Ralf Conrad. Thermophilic acetate-utilizing Bacteria and Archaea in methanogenic

    rice field soil revealed by stable isotope probing of rRNA and DNA. The 13th International 

    Society for Microbial Ecology Conference(August 22-27,2010. WashingtonState Convention and

    Trade Center,Seattle, WA, USA).

3. FanghuaLiu, Guofang Lin, Guang Gao, Boqiang Qin, Jianshe Zhang, GuopingZhao, Zhihua Zhou,

    Jianhua Shen. Analysis on the bacterial and archaeal communitiesof the sediments with different

    trophic levelsinLake Taihu.The 11th National Symposium on Environmental

    Microbiology (November26-December 2,2008.Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiansu, China).

4. FanghuaLiu, Guofang Lin, Guang Gao, Boqiang Qin, Jianshe Zhang, GuopingZhao, Zhihua Zhou,

    Jianhua Shen. Preliminary results on the bacterial and archaeal communitiesof the sediments with

    different trophic levelsinLake Taihu.The 113th Eastern Forum of Science and Technology

    (July3-4,2008.Shanghai, China).

5. FanghuaLiu, SibaoWang, JiansheZhang, JunZhang, Guoping Zhao, ZhihuaZhou. Denaturing

    gradient gel electrophoresis(DGGE) revealedthe microbialcommunity in a biogas digester

    fermented with rice straw. The 9th National Symposiumon Environmental Microbiology

    (August 20-24, 2006. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China).