Shiliang Tian

Title:

Assistant Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Contact:

Email Address: sltian@purdue.edu
Office Phone: 765-494-5467
Lab Website Link: https://www.chem.purdue.edu/tian/index.html

Primary Training Group:

Biotechnology

Research Areas:

A multidisciplinary research group aiming to decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying the complex biological systems.

Current Projects:

Metalloproteins are important in biology because they catalyze essential reactions in life-like cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and nitrogen fixation under mild conditions and with high efficiency and selectivity. Research in the Tian lab lies at the interface of physical, inorganic, and biological chemistry and utilizes a wide range of spectroscopic and computational techniques to elucidate the functions and mechanisms of metalloproteins. The information gained through this type of work will provide insight into the electronic and geometric structures of metalloproteins and their associated mechanistic roles in pathogenesis, which can be beneficial in the development of effective therapeutic treatments. We aim to 1) investigate the roles of metal ions homeostasis in neurodegenerative diseases, 2) design functional metalloproteins for biosynthetic, biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications, and 3) elucidate the molecular basis of the mechanism of magnetoreception.