1. 新颖海洋天然产物的挖掘与生物合成。通过基因组挖掘技术，从海洋生物中挖掘新颖天然产物并探索其在医药与农业领域的应用价值。同时解析其生物合成途径，着力于发现生物合成的新颖化学逻辑。

2. 新颖海洋酶的挖掘与生物催化。表征催化海洋生物中独特的初级和次级代谢反应的酶，研究其结构与催化机理，并探索其在生物催化、生物能源、生物降解等领域中的应用。

3. 海洋活性物质的生物制造。以大肠杆菌、酵母菌及构巢曲霉等模式生物为平台，通过异源表达、酶工程、代谢工程等合成生物学手段实现海洋活性天然产物的高效、绿色和可持续生产。

2008.9-2012.6，武汉大学，理学学士

2012.9-2015.6，美国约翰霍普金斯大学（JHU），硕士

2015.9-2019.12，美国约翰霍普金斯大学（JHU），博士

2020.1-2026.1，美国加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA），博士后/导师：Yi Tang

2026.1-至今，中国科学院南海海洋研究所，研究员

近五年发表文章9篇（*共同第一作者；#共同通讯作者）：

1. Sun Z, Yost K, Bills GF, Tang Y. Biosynthesis of the 5-Isoxazolidinone-Containing Hexacyclic Structure of Parnafungin. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147, 37842-37853.

2. Sun Z*, Zang X*, Zhou Q, Ohashi M, Houk KN, Zhou J, Tang Y. Iminium Catalysis in Natural Diels-Alderase. Nature Catalysis 2025, 8, 218-228.

3. Nagasawa KK, Yost KM, Sun Z#, Tang Y#. D-Galactose-Esterification of a Fungal Polyketide Catalyzed by a Carnitine Acyltransferase Domain. Chembiochem 2025, e202400846.

4. Sun Z, Tang Y. No Job too Small for a Giant Enzyme. Nature Chemical Biology 2023, 71, 11502-11519.

5. Han W, Wu Z, Zhong Z, Williams J, Jacobsen SE, Sun Z#, Tang Y#. Assessing the biosynthetic inventory of the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma afroharzianum T22. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2023, 71, 11502-11519.

6. Sun Z, Jamieson CS, Ohashi M, Houk KN, Tang Y. Discovery and characterization of a terpene biosynthetic pathway featuring a norbornene-forming Diels-Alderase. Nature Communications 2022, 13, 1-12.

7. Sun Z, Xu B, Spisak S, Cavran JM, Rokita SE. Minimal structure for iodotyrosine deiodinase function is defined by an outlier protein from the thermophilic bacterium Thermatoga neapolitana. Journal of biological chemistry 2021, 297, 101385.

8. Xu B, Sun Z, Rokita SE. A Split Gene Approach to Alleviate Severe Inhibition of Catalysis by Substrate. Biochemistry 2025, 64, 2867-2876.

9. Yan C, Han W, Zhou Q, Niwa K, Tang M, Burch J, Zhang Y, Delgadillo D, Sun Z, Wu Z, Jacobsen S, Nelson H, Houk K, Tang Y. Genome Mining from Plant-Associated Fungi Led to Identification of a D-Glucose Esterified Polyketide with a Terpene-like Core Structure. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145, 25080–25085.

2009.9 国家奖学金

2014.9 Ernest M. Marks Teaching Award（约翰霍普金斯大学）

2019.9 Rudolph Sonneborn Fellowship（约翰霍普金斯大学）