James C. Liao


Liao Chun-Chih, also known by his English name James Liao, is a Taiwanese-American chemist. He was the Parsons Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is the co-founder and lead scientific advisor of Easel Biotechnologies, LLC. He was named the president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan, in June 2016.
He is best known for his work in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and bioenergy. Liao has been recognized for the biosynthesis and production of higher alcohols such as isobutanol from sugars, cellulose, waste protein, or carbon dioxide.

Early life and education

Lai was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1958 and was raised in Taipei. After graduating from National Taiwan University with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering in 1980, he completed military service in the Republic of China Armed Forces and pursued graduate studies in the United States at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1987 under chemical engineer Edwin N. Lightfoot, the co-author of Transport Phenomena, on a fellowship awarded by the National Institute of Health. Liao's doctoral dissertation was titled, "Modelling of Biochemical Reaction Networks."

Academic career

After receiving his doctorate, Liao worked as a research scientist for Eastman Kodak from 1987 to 1989. In 1990, he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University as an assistant professor and three years later he became an associate professor. In 1997, Liao became a professor for the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles.

Research

Liao's research interests include biological synthesis of fuels and chemicals, carbon and nitrogen assimilation, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, transcriptional and metabolic networks analysis, fatty acid metabolism.

Protein based biofuels

Liao and his team are researching protein based biofuels which use proteins, rather than fats or carbohydrates, as a significant raw material for biorefining and biofuel production. The benefit of using protein is that the protein metabolism is much faster than fatty acid metabolism such as algae biofuels, which leads to higher production.

Electrofuels

Liao's lab recently participated in the US Department of Energy's Electrofuels program. They proposed converting solar energy into liquid fuels such as isobutanol. A new bioreactor could store electricity as liquid fuel with the help of a genetically engineered microbes and carbon dioxide. The isobutanol produced would have an energy density close to gasoline.

Non-oxidative glycolysis

Liao has also worked on the creation of a non-oxidative glycolysis pathway. Natural metabolic pathways degrade sugars in an oxidative way that loses 1/3 of the carbon to in fermentation. The Liao laboratory has developed a pathway, called Non-oxidative glycolysis, that allows 100% carbon conservation in various fermentation processes.

Awards and honors

Personal life

Liao holds both Taiwanese and American citizenship. He is married to Kelly Liao and has two daughters, Carol and Clara Liao.