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Food Chemistry article page for: High-molecular-weight fibroin as a preservation coating for perishable fruits, by Xing Huang, Zhi Lin and Wensu Yuan

Mar 2026Food Chemistry

A fibroin coating that keeps fruit fresh

High-molecular-weight fibroin forms a preservation coating that slows spoilage in perishable fruits — including avocados held 12 days at 25 °C.

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First page of the PNAS paper: eATP sensing by the purinergic receptor PA2072 for allosteric modulation in intracellular c-di-GMP signaling, by Yan Zhang, Zhi Lin and co-authors

Nov 2025PNAS

How bacteria sense ATP outside the cell

The purinergic receptor PA2072 senses extracellular ATP and allosterically retunes intracellular c-di-GMP signaling — a lever on biofilm expansion.

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First page of the PNAS paper: Intrinsically disordered linkers and terminal domains codrive aciniform spidroin self-assembly through liquid–liquid phase separation, by Ruiqi Qin, Zhi Lin and co-authors

Oct 2025PNAS

Spider fibroin assembly via liquid droplets

Intrinsically disordered linkers and terminal domains co-drive aciniform spidroin self-assembly through liquid–liquid phase separation.

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Research

Research in Lin Lab focuses on protein structures, functions and engineering.

Project 1

High-performance silk-based biomaterials

Silks are proteinaceous biopolymers with extraordinary physical properties and biomimetic potential. This research focuses on the structure-based engineering and design of fibroins to produce artificial silk-based biomaterials with desirable and tunable mechanical properties for potential medical, industry, and military applications. Inspired by synthetic biology, we are also teaming up with our collaborators to generate novel artificial spider silks from prokaryotic and entomic systems.

1.1

Mechanisms of silk formation and spidroin bioengineering

Spidroin dimer-to-tetramer assembly, LLPS droplet formation, mechanism-inspired fully aqueous spinning, and electron micrographs of the resulting artificial silk fibers

References

Project 2

Structural mechanisms of signaling

Signaling proteins play crucial roles in the regulation of diverse physiological effects. This research targets a variety of signaling proteins related to human development and diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, cancers, and microbial infection.

2.1

Death receptor signaling

Death receptors, such as p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), are members of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily and their signaling actively contributes to cell survival or apoptosis. The aims of this project is to elucidate structural mechanisms of death receptor signaling for regulation and control of diverse functional outputs.

Signaling diagram of the p75 neurotrophin death receptor spanning the cell membrane, with intracellular partners RhoA, RhoGDI, RIP2 and TRADD converging on NF-κB

References

2.2

C-di-GMP signaling

Cyclic di-GMP, an important secondary messenger, is primarily produced in microorganisms, especially bacteria. It is synthesized by diguanylate cyclases (DGCs) that contain the GGDEF domain and degraded by phosphodiesterases (PDEs) that contain EAL and/or HD-GYP domains. This project aims to elucidate the structure and functions of various c-di-GMP metabolizing proteins that play a crucial role in pathogenesis and drug resistance.

Mechanism diagram of extracellular ATP sensing by the PA2072 purinergic receptor modulating intracellular c-di-GMP signaling

Reference

Publications

Five representative papers

# Co-first author · * Corresponding author · Titles with a DOI link to the publisher.

Structures

People

Lin, Zhi 林志

Professor · Principal Investigator

Lin Zhi leads the lab's research at the interface of protein structure, function and engineering, encompassing early NMR studies of spider eggcase silk proteins and subsequent work on artificial fibers and fibroin-based materials, alongside investigations into the molecular mechanisms of death-receptor signaling.

Yuan, Wensu 袁文肃

Associate Professor

Ph.D in Biology

Pan, Mengjiang 潘蒙江

Industrial Supervisor

Doctorate in Health Management

Zhang, Yan 张燕

Postdoc · Assistant Researcher

Ph.D in Biology

Group Photos

Xmas Eve, 2024

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Contact

Lin Zhi Lab
Rooms 428–430, Building No. 15
School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University
92 Weijin Road, Nankai District
Tianjin 300072, P. R. China

Open positions

Graduate students and postdocs interested in biochemical and biophysical research are welcome to contact Lin Zhi with a CV. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.