Lei Kai
Ph.D, Master's Supervisor
Contact details
Addrsse College of Life Sciences
(Joint affiliation) Jiangsu Normal University
Shanghai Road 101, 221116, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China
E-mail:lkai@jsnu.edu.cn
Tel. +86 (0)15852001351
Education and research experience
2017-present Full professor, College of Life Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, P.R.China
2015-2017 Group Leader: Cell Free Protein Synthesis
Department of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry,
Martinsried (Near Munich), Germany
2012-2015 PostDoc/Group Leader
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
2008-2012 Ph.D in Biology,
Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
2005-2008 Master in Microbiology
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R. China
2001-2005 Bachelor in Bioengineering
China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, P.R. China
Research
Our research interests focus on the interface of physics, chemistry and biology. Through applying cutting edge techniques like advanced light microscopy, cell-free protein synthesis and microfluidics, we seek to systematic investigation of membrane proteins as well as bottom-up assembly of minimal cellular systems.
Publications
1.Yue K., Zhu Y., Kai L. “Cell-Free Protein Synthesis: Chassis towards the minimal cell”. Cells, 2019
2.Kai, L.* and Schwille, P*. “Cell-Free Protein Synthesis and Its Perspectives for Assembling Cells from the Bottom-Up”. Advanced Biosystems, 1800322.
3.Jia, H., Kai, L., Heymann, M., García-Soriano, D. A., Härtel, T., & Schwille, P. (2018). Light-induced Printing of Protein Structures on Membranes in vitro. Nano letters, 18(11), 7133-7140.
4.Jia H., Heymann M., Bernhard F., Schwille P., Kai L.* “Cell-free protein synthesis in micro compartments: building a minimal cell from biobricks”. N. Biotechnol. 2017, 39: 199-205.
5.Lei Kai, Erika Orbán, Erik Henrich, Davide Proverbio, Volker Dötsch, Frank Bernhard. Co-translational stabilization of insoluble proteins in cell-free expression systems. Methods in Molecular Biology (2015), 1258:125-43
6.Lei Kai, Ralf Kaldenhoff. A refined model of water and CO2 membrane diffusion: Effects and contribution of sterols and proteins. Scientific Reports, (2014) 4: 6665
7.Ralf Kaldenhoff, Lei Kai, Norbert Uehlein. Aquaporins and membrane diffusion of CO2 in living organisms. BBA-General Subjects, (2014), 1840 (5) 1592-1595
8.Xu Zhang, Jiazhang Lian, Lei Kai, Lei Huang, Peilin Cena, Zhinan Xu. Enhanced functional expression of aquaporin Z via fusion of in situcleavable leader peptides in Escherichia coli cell-free system. Enzyme and Microbial Technology, (2014) 55: 26-30
9.Christian Roos, Lei Kai, Stefan Haberstock, Davide Proverbio, Umesh Ghoshdastider, Yi Ma, Slawomir Filipek, Xiaoning Wang, Volker Dötsch1 and Frank Bernhard. High Level Cell-Free Production of Membrane Proteins into Nanodiscs. Methods in Molecular Biology (2014), 1118: 109-130
10.Lei Kai, Volker Dötsch, Ralf Kaldenhoff, Frank Bernhard. Artificial Environments for the Co-Translational Stabilization of Cell-Free Expressed Proteins. Plos one (2013) 8(2): e56637
11.Christian Roos, Lei Kai, Davide Proverbio, Umesh Ghoshdastider, Slawomir Filipek, Volker Dötsch and Frank Bernhard. Co-translational insertion of cell-free expressed membrane proteins into lipid bilayers. Molecular Membrane Biology (2013), 30 (1): 75-89.
12.Julia von Buelow, Annika Mueller-Lucks, Lei Kai, Frank Bernhard, and Eric Beitz. Functional characterization of a novel aquaporin from Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae implies a unique gating mechanism. Journal of Biological Chemistry, (2012) Mar; 287: 7487–7494
13.Lei Kai, Christian Roos, Stefan Haberstock, Davide Proverbio and Yi Ma, et al. Systems for the Cell-Free Synthesis of Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology (2012), 1, Volume 800, Chemical Genomics and Proteomics, Part 2, Pages 201-225
14.Kai L, Kaldenhoff R, Lian J, Zhu X, Dötsch V, Bernhard F, Cen P, Xu Z. Preparative Scale Production of Functional Mouse Aquaporin 4 Using Different Cell-Free Expression Modes. PLoS ONE (2010) 5(9): e12972
15.Sobhanifar S, Reckel S, Junge F, Schwarz D, Kai L, Karbyshev M, Löhr F, Bernhard F, Dötsch V. Cell-free expression and stable isotope labelling strategies for membrane proteins. Journal of Biomolecular NMR. (2010) Jan; 46 (1): 33-43
16.Xia Li, Tongcheng Xu, Hongbo Lu, Xiaohang Ma, Lei Kai, Kangping Guo, Yuhua Zhao. Purification and characterization of a cis-epoxysuccinic acid hydrolase from Bordetella sp. strain 1–3. Protein Expression and Purification. (2010) Jan;69 (1):16-20
17.Rongrong Ma, Zhong Yang, Lei Huang, Xiangcheng Zhu, Lei Kai, Jin Cai, Xiaoning Wang, Zhinan Xu Construction of an efficient Escherichia coli cell-free system for in vitro expression of several kinds of proteins. Engineering in life Science (2010) Aug; 10 (4): 333-338
18.Lei Kai, Xiao-hang Ma, Xiao-ming Jia, Xue-lai Zhou, Xia Li, Kang-ping Guo. Purification and characterization of a thermostable uricase from Microbacterium sp. strain ZZJ4-1. World journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. (2008) 24:401–406
19.Jiazhang Lian, Xiangming Fang, Jin Cai, Qixing Chen, Qiang Zheng, Lei Kai, Zhinan Xu. Efficient expression of membrane-bound water channel protein (Aquaporin Z) in Escherichia coli. Protein & Peptide Letters (2008) 15: 687-691
20.Xia Li, Tongcheng Xu, Xiaohang Ma, Kangping Guo, Lei Kai, Yuhua Zhao, Xiaoming Jia, Yin Ma. Optimization of culture conditions for production of cis-epoxysuccinic acid hydrolase using response surface methodology. Bioresource Technology(2008) Sep; 99 (13): 5391–5396
21.Lei Kai, Ke Yue, Xiao-hang Ma. Research and Application of Uricase. Bulletin of Science and Technology. (2008) 2: 183-187. (Chinese review paper)
22.Yuanyuan Wang, Xiaohang Ma, Weifeng Zhao, Xiaoming Jia, Lei Kai. Study on the creatinase from Paracoccus sp. strain WB1, Process Biochemistry(2006) 41: 2072–2077
23.Xia Li, Xiaohang Ma, Yuhua Zhao, Xiaoming Jia, Lei Kai, Kangping Guo, Weifeng Zhao. Isolation and characterization of a new bacterium capable of biotransforming cis-epoxysuccinic acid to D(-)-tartaric acid. FEMS Microbiology letters (2007) 267: 214-220
24.Kangping Guo, Xiaohang Ma, Guiqin Sun, Yuhua Zhao, Xia Li, Weifeng Zhao, Lei Kai. Expression and characterization of a thermostable sarcosine oxidase (SOX) from Bacillus sp. in Escherichia coli, Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, (2006) 73: 559-566
