Shiling Liang 梁师翎
Research interests
stochastic thermodynamics, chemical reaction theory, biological physics
Professional Experiences
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
ELBE Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD), Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), Dresden, Germany
- Group affiliations: Jonathan Rodenfels (MPI-CBG), Frank Jülicher (MPI-PKS)
JSPS Fellow (Strategic Program), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Okinawa, Japan
- Host advisor: Simone Pigolotti
Education
Ph.D. in Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Thesis title: Fundamental Thermodynamic Constraints on Symmetry Breaking in Biochemical Systems
- PhD advisors: Daniel Maria Busiello and Paolo De Los Rios
M.Sc. in Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
B.Sc. in Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Awards & Honours
NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas)
Shanghai Magnolia Talent Program (Youth Project)
ELBE Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD)
APS DBIO Travel Awards (declined due to visa issue)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Strategic Fellowship
Best Short Talk Award, 7th Beijing Soft Matter Workshop
Preprints
* Corresponding author, † Authors listed in alphabetical order
[15] Liang, S.*, 2026. Mutual Linearity in Nonlinear Population Dynamics. arXiv:2611.14501
[14] Bao, R.* and Liang, S.*, 2026. Exact First-Passage Time Response Theory from Steady-State Response. arXiv:2608.11202
[13] Liang, S.* and Bao, R.*, 2026. A Universal Control Budget for First-Passage Kinetics. arXiv:2608.06368
[12] Bao, R.* and Liang, S.*, 2024. Nonlinear Response Identities and Bounds for Nonequilibrium Steady States. arXiv:2412.19602
Publications
[11] Liang, S.*, De Los Rios, P. and Busiello, D. M.*, 2026. Thermodynamic Space of Chemical Reaction Networks. Phys. Rev. X 16, 041026
[10] Bao, R.* and Liang, S.*, 2026. Exact Finite Response of Higher-Order Statistics in Nonequilibrium Networks. Chin. Phys. Lett. 43, 100002
[9] Busiello, D. M.*†, Liang, S.*† and Pigolotti, S.*†, 2026. Non-equilibrium symmetry of cyclic first-passage times. New J. Phys. 28, 064602
[8] Liang, S.*, Ma, Y.-H.*, Busiello, D. M. and De Los Rios, P., 2025. Minimal Model for Carnot Efficiency at Maximum Power. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 027101
- Featured in Phys.org, Interesting Engineering and South China Morning Post
[7] Cao, Y.* and Liang, S.*, 2025. Stochastic thermodynamics for biological functions. Quant. Biol. 13, e75
[6] Liang, S.*, De Los Rios, P. and Busiello, D. M.*, 2024. Thermodynamic Bounds on Symmetry Breaking in Linear and Catalytic Biochemical Systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 228402
[5] Liang, S. and Pigolotti, S., 2023. Thermodynamic bounds on time-reversal asymmetry. Phys. Rev. E (Letter) 108, L062101
[4] Liang, S., Busiello, D. M. and De Los Rios, P.*, 2022. Emergent thermophoretic behavior in chemical reaction systems. New J. Phys. 24, 123006
[3] Liang, S., De Los Rios, P. and Busiello, D. M.*, 2021. Dissipation-Driven Selection under Finite Diffusion: Hints from Equilibrium and Separation of Time Scales. Entropy 23, 1068
[2] Busiello, D. M.*, Liang, S., Piazza, F. and De Los Rios, P., 2021. Dissipation-driven selection of states in non-equilibrium chemical networks. Commun. Chem. 4, 16
[1] Dass, A. V., Georgelin, T., Westall, F., Foucher, F., De Los Rios, P., Busiello, D. M., Liang, S. and Piazza, F.*, 2021. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium furanose selection in the ribose isomerisation network. Nat. Commun. 12, 2749
Teaching and Supervision
1 Master thesis and 1 Master semester project at EPFL
Teaching Assistant, PEBBLE BioFusion Camp 2024 at Westlake University
Teaching Assistant, Analytic mechanics at EPFL
Teaching Assistant, Statistical physics of biomacromolecules at EPFL
Teaching Assistant, Biophysics: physics of the cell at EPFL
Service
Founder and Organizer of Statistical Physics Youth Communications
- Founded and lead a vibrant community of 400+ early-career researchers in statistical physics
- Coordinate online seminars featuring recent advances in statistical physics, with 38 successful sessions completed
Co-organizer of Swarma Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics Study Group
- Design and coordinate a structured 16-session program covering fundamental and advanced topics with 300+ participants
Reviewer
- Physical Review Letters, Physical Review E, Physical Review Research, Communications Physics, Soft Matter, PLOS Computational Biology, Newton, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, and Journal of Statistical Physics
Invited Talks
Turning the Knobs: Response and Control in General Markov Jump Processes, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK, Oct 2026
Turning the Knobs: Response and Control in General Biochemical Processes, Imperial College London, London, UK, Oct 2026
Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics of Living Systems: Universal Constraints on Biological Functions, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, Apr 2026
Response of Nonequilibrium Steady States, TUD, Dresden, Germany, Apr 2026
Thermodynamic Design Space of Biochemical Functions, CAS-ITP, Beijing, China, Aug 2025
Nonlinear Response Theory for Nonequilibrium Biochemical Networks, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China, Aug 2025
The Operational Limits on Biochemical Processes: From Accessibility to Controllability, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, Aug 2025
Response relations in non-equilibrium Markov processes, The 8th National Conference on Statistical Physics and Complex Systems, Ningbo, China, Jul 2025
Nonequilibrium Response Theory under Arbitrary Strong Perturbations, GSCAEP, Beijing, China, Jul 2025
Thermodynamics of Chemical Reaction Theory, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany, May 2025
Thermodynamic Space for Chemical Reaction Networks, Autocatalysis in Reaction Networks Seminar, Online, Apr 2025
Thermodynamic Limits of Biological Functions, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China (Online), Apr 2025
Introduction to Chemical Reaction Theory, OIST TSVP Program, Okinawa, Japan, Mar 2025
Thermodynamic Constraints on Biological Processes, ELBE Symposium, Dresden, Germany, May 2024
Thermodynamic cost of spatiotemporal symmetry breaking, LMU, Munich, Germany, Nov 2023
Thermodynamic cost of time-reversal symmetry breaking, MPI-PKS, Dresden, Germany, Nov 2023
Thermodynamic cost to break spatiotemporal symmetry, BICMR, Peking University, Beijing, China, Aug 2023
Why must life be out of equilibrium, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, Aug 2023
From origins of life to thermodynamic bounds on symmetry breaking, Peking University, Beijing, China, Jul 2023
Thermodynamics on the origin and the present of life, ELSI, Tokyo, Japan, May 2023
Thermodynamics on the origin and the present of life, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, May 2023
Symmetry breaking in the present and origin of life, USTC, Hefei, China (Online), Jan 2023
Non-isothermal chemical reaction networks: hints to the origins of life, MISANU, Serbia (Online), Nov 2022