Faculty

Lijun Zhou, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics

Department: Biochemistry and Biophysics

Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information

Clinical Research Building, Room 345
415 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Email:
Lijun.zhou@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Publications

Search PubMed for articles

Education:
B.S. (Biology )
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 2008.
Ph.D. (Biochemistry and Structural Biology )
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 2013.

Links
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Permanent link

> Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details

Description of Research Expertise

Nucleic Acid Chemistry;
Non-natural Nucleic Acid (XNA);
In vitro Selection;
RNA-protein interaction;
Structural Biology;
Artificial Cells.

Selected Publications

Xiwen Jia, Stephanie J Zhang, Lijun Zhou, Jack W Szostak: Constraints on the emergence of RNA through non-templated primer extension with mixtures of potentially prebiotic nucleotides. Nucleic Acids Research June 2024.

Xiwen Jia, Ziyuan Fang, Seohyun Chris Kim, Dian Ding, Lijun Zhou, Jack W Szostak: Diaminopurine in Nonenzymatic RNA Template Copying. Journal of the American Chemical Society June 2024.

Zachary R Cohen, Dian Ding, Lijun Zhou, Saurja DasGupta, Sebastian Haas, Kimberly P Sinclair, Zoe R Todd, Roy A Black, Jack W Szostak, David C Catling: Natural soda lakes provide compatible conditions for RNA and membrane function that could have enabled the origin of life. PNAS nexus 3(3): pgae084, March 2024.

Dian Ding, Ziyuan Fang, Seohyun Chris Kim, Derek K O’Flaherty, Xiwen Jia, Talbot B Stone, Lijun Zhou*, Jack W Szostak*: Unusual Base Pair between Two 2-Thiouridines and Its Implication for Nonenzymatic RNA Copying. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146(6): 3861–3871, January 2024.

Dian Ding, Lijun Zhou, Shriyaa Mittal, and Jack W. Szostak*: Experimental Tests of the Virtual Circular Genome Model for Nonenzymatic RNA Replication. J Am Chem Soc Mar 2023.

Ding D, Zhou L, Giurgiu C, Szostak JW.: Kinetic explanations for the sequence biases observed in the nonenzymatic copying of RNA templates. Nucleic Acids Res 50: 35-45, Jan 2022.

Kim SC, O'Flaherty DK, Giurgiu C, Zhou L, Szostak JW.: The Emergence of RNA from the Heterogeneous Products of Prebiotic Nucleotide Synthesis. J Am Chem Soc 143: 3267-3279, Mar 2021.

Zhou L, Ding D, Szostak JW.: The virtual circular genome model for primordial RNA replication. RNA Jan 2021.

O'Flaherty DK, Zhou L, Szostak JW: Nonenzymatic RNA-templated Synthesis of N3'→P5' Phosphoramidate DNA. Bio-protocol 10: e3734, Sep 2020.

Zhou L, O'Flaherty DK, Szostak JW.: Template-Directed Copying of RNA by Non-enzymatic Ligation. Angew Chem Int Ed 59: 15682-15687, Sep 2020.