Kaiyu Qiu

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."

                                                                             - Theodosius Dobzhansky 

I am Kaiyu (Rossmann) Qiu (Chinese name: 邱锴宇). I am now a Ph.D. student in the  Department of Protein Evolution at Max Planck Institute for Biology (Germany) since Sept. 2022, before which I obtained my BSc in biology at Wuhan University (China) in 2022. 

Get in touch for any scientific questions/discussions/cooperations via XXX.YY@tuebingen.mpg.de or XXXYY4@gmail.com (XXX=kaiyu, YY=qiu).


Study & Research Interest

My research interests fall squarely at the interface of Protein Biophysics and Evolutionary Biology, with a special focus on the Origin of Life.

Protein Structure/Fold Evolution

How do existing proteins stand out from the sequence & structure space and obtain their structures and relevant functions? For example, the evolution of protein functions is widely studied in different model systems. The emergence of ligand-binding capability, nonetheless, is not well understood yet. Exploring the distribution of natural sequences in the sequence & structure space is another important issue, which can promote deciphering the evolutionary course of the protein universe, distinguishing homology & analogy, inferring possible evolutionary trajectories of specific protein families, and even designing novel protein folds.

Evolutionary Dynamics of Proteins

The Fitness Landscape is a romantic concept in evolution.  Theoretical investigation characterizes the topological features of various landscapes and thus contributes to the quantitative understanding of evolutionary trajectories. The development of deep sequencing and high-throughput biochemical essays (e.g. deep mutation scanning) generates high-quality large-scale datasets for "ground truth", making the computational study convincing. Specific systems, such as β-lactamases, have received much attention. Physicochemical and evolutionary models that describe the evolutionary dynamics can reveal physicochemical constraints of biological macromolecules and apply these laws to molecular engineering, facilitating the development of practical fields such as virus evolutionary prediction, vaccine design, and antibiotic resistance evolution. 

Structural Biology

Fortunately, I was trained in protein biochemistry, experiments of X-ray crystallography, and modeling of cryo-EM during my undergraduate. I keep my high enthusiasm for receiving systematic training in these, including MD simulation. Empirical methods utilized to determine the biophysical properties of molecules are essential for all theoretic work!

Education

      Tübingen, BaWü, Germany

     Doctorate in Natural Sciences in Computational Biology

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Andrei Lupas


      Wuhan, Hubei, China 

     Bachelor of Science in Biological Science

      Undergraduate Thesis: Explore the evolution of ligand-binding capability of proteins at the "theme" and binding site level (Advisor: Prof. Dr. Nir Ben-Tal, 

      Excellent Undergraduate Thesis of Wuhan University, 2022)


      Beijing, China

     Visiting Student in Quantitative Biology

      Best Presentation


      Vancouver, BC, Canada

     Exchange Student in Medicine

      Biochemistry in Diabetes & Environmental Biochemistry



Working Experience:

      Tübingen, BaWü, Germany

     Department of Protein Evolution

     Doctorate Research Student

     Structural Bioinformatics, Protein Evolution, Molecular Origin of Life, Protein Design

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Andrei Lupas


      Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel 

     George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences

     Undergraduate Intern

     Structural Bioinformatics, Protein Evolution, Molecular Origin of Life

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Nir Ben-Tal


      Ann Arbor, MI, USA 

     Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

     Undergraduate Intern

     Evolutionary Dynamics, Bioinformatics

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Jianzhi Zhang


      Montréal, Canada

     Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

     Mitacs Intern

     Computational Structural Biology, Protein Modelling, cryo-EM

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Khanh huy bui


      Wuhan, Hubei, China

     Wuhan Institute of Virology

     Undergraduate Intern

     Experimental Structural Biology, Protein purification, Polymerase

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Peng Gong


Professional Societies: 

Awards