Rate My Professor Haijun Liu

Haijun Liu, Ph.D., serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Louis University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University in 2008, M.S. in Plant Biology from the Department of Biology at Sichuan University in 1996, and B.A. in Biology, graduating with honors, from Hebei Normal University in 1993. Early in his career, he was recognized as an Excellent Young Lecturer with teaching aptitude, receiving a Bronze medal from Hebei Normal University in 1998. Liu has also been honored with the Guanghua Prize, an Excellent Graduate Scholarship from Sichuan University in 1994, membership in Phi Kappa Phi in 2003, and the Research Paper Award from the Rebeiz Foundation for Basic Research in 2013.

Liu's research centers on the structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules involved in solar energy capture and transformation, particularly membrane-bound protein complexes central to photosynthesis. His investigations employ mass spectrometry, chemical cross-linking, biochemical assays, and genetic engineering to elucidate protein interactions, conformational dynamics, and adaptive responses to environmental stressors such as varying light and temperature conditions. Key publications include "Phycobilisomes supply excitations to both photosystems in a megacomplex in cyanobacteria" (Science, 2013; 406 citations), "Precise insertion and guided editing of higher plant genomes using Cpf1 CRISPR nucleases" (Scientific Reports, 2017; 241 citations), "Intramolecular allostery in cyanobacterial phycobilisome as revealed by quantitative mass spectrometry" (Biochemistry, 2023), "Molecular asymmetry of a photosynthetic supercomplex from green sulfur bacteria" (Nature Communications, 2022), and "Structure of Cyanobacterial Phycobilisome Core Structure by Structural Modeling and Chemical Cross-linking" (Science Advances, 2021). With over 2,400 citations, his work significantly impacts photosynthetic biophysics, protein structural biology, and bioenergetics. Liu teaches General Chemistry, Biochemistry, Protein Chemistry, Biochemistry lab, and modules on current approaches in plant research using protein structural mass spectrometry.