2021 HCLS Distinguished Research Award Announcement

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Li X*, Mizsei R*, Tan K, Mallis RJ, Duke-Cohan JS, Akitsu A, Tetteh PW, Dubey A, Hwang W, Wagner G, Lang MJ, Arthanari H, Wang JH, Reinherz EL. Pre-T cell receptors topologically sample

self-ligands during thymocyte β-selection. Science. 2021 Jan 181-185. (*contribute equally)

2. Mizsei R, Li X, Chen WN, Szabo M, Wagner G, Wang JH, Reinherz EL, Mallis RJ. A general chemical crosslinking strategy for structural analyses of weakly interacting proteins applied to preTCR-pMHC complexes. J Biol Chem. 2021, RA120. 016906.

Dr. Chitong Rao obtained his Bachelor's degrees in Biotechnology and Psychology in 2011 at Peking University and his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics in 2017 at the University of Toronto. Then he joined Dr. Seth Rakoff-Nahoum lab at Boston Children’s Hospital as a postdoc fellow to study the gut microbiome ecology. His research has been focusing on understanding how human-associated microbes evolve and interact within microbial communities and how these adaptations contribute to human health and disease.

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Rao C*, Coyte K*, Bainter W, Geha RS, Martin CR, Rakoff-Nahoum S. (2021) Multi-kingdom ecological drivers of microbiota assembly in preterm infants. Nature 591: 633–638 (* co-first author).

2. Coyte K, Rao C, Rakoff-Nahoum S, Foster KR. (2021) Ecological rules for the assembly of microbiome communities. PLoS Biology 19(2): e3001116

Dr. Jingyou Yu obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from China Agricultural University in 2009. He further earned his master’s degree in Microbiology from the State key laboratory of virology in Wuhan University. In 2013, he joined Dr. Shan-Lu Liu’s lab in the Ohio State University as a PhD student, characterizing the interactions between host innate immune responses and viral infections. In 2019, he joined Dr. Dan Barouch’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow, with special interests in developing vaccines against HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and SARS-CoV-2 infection. His recent research work advanced the development of JNJ’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. J. Yu*, L. H. Tostanoski*, N. B. Mercado*, K. McMahan*, J. Liu*, C. Jacob-Dolan*, A. Chandrashekar*, C. Atyeo, D. R. Martinez, T. Anioke, et al., Protective efficacy of Ad26. COV2. S against SARS-CoV-2 B. 1.351 in macaques. Nature 596, 423-427 (2021). (* co-first author)

2. G. Alter*, J. Yu*, J. Liu*, A. Chandrashekar*, E. N. Borducchi*, L. H. Tostanoski*, K. McMahan*, C. Jacob-Dolan*, D. R. Martinez, A. Chang, et al., Immunogenicity of Ad26. COV2. S vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants in humans. Nature 596, 268-272 (2021). (* co-first author)

3. J. Yu*, L. H. Tostanoski*, L. Peter*, N. B. Mercado*, K. McMahan*, S. H. Mahrokhian*, J. P. Nkolola*, J. Liu*, Z. Li*, A. Chandrashekar, et al., DNA vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques. Science 369, 806-811 (2020). (* co-first author)

4. K. McMahan*, J. Yu*, N. B. Mercado*, C. Loos*, L. H. Tostanoski*, A. Chandrashekar*, J. Liu*, L. Peter, C. Atyeo, A. Zhu, et al., Correlates of protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques. Nature 590, 630-634 (2021). (* co-first author)

5. X. He*, A. Chandrashekar*, R. Zahn*, F. Wegmann*, J. Yu*, N. B. Mercado*, K. McMahan*, A. J. Martinot*, C. Piedra-Mora, S. Beecy, et al., Low-dose Ad26. COV2. S protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge in rhesus macaques. Cell,  (2021). (* co-first author)

Dr. Yanmei Dou obtained her B.S. degree from University of Science & Technology Beijing and Ph.D. degree from Peking University. She then joined Dr. Peter Park’s lab in Harvard Medical School as a research fellow since 2017. Dr. Dou was devoted to developing bioinformatics methods to accurately detect mosaic mutations in human genome, exploring mosaic mutations in non-cancer human diseases and using mosaic mutations as markers to study human embryonic development. This September she joined Westlake University and started her lab as a Principal Investigator.

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Dou, Y., Kwon, M., Rodin, R. E., Cortes-Ciriano, I., Doan, R. N., Luquette, L. J., Galor, A., Bohrson, C. L., Walsh, C. A. and Park, P. J. (2020). "Accurate detection of mosaic variants in sequencing data without matched controls." Nat Biotechnol 38(3): 314-319.

2. Rodin, R. E.*, Dou, Y.*, Kwon, M., Sherman, M. A., D’Gama, A. M., Doan, R. N., Rento, L. M., Girskis, K. M., Bohrson, C. L., Kim, S. N., Luquette, L. J., Gulhan, D. C., Park, P. J. and Walsh, C. A. (2021). "The Landscape of Mutational Mosaicism in Autistic and Normal Human Cerebral Cortex."  (* Co-first author). Nat Neurosci 24, no. 2: 176-85.

3. Bizzotto, S.*, Dou, Y.*, Ganz, J.*, Doan, R. N., Kwon, M., Park, P. J. and Walsh, C. A. (2021). "Landmarks of human embryonic development inscribed in somatic mutations." (* Co-first author). Science 371, no. 6535: 1249-53.

Dr. Yongfei Cai is currently an Instructor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital /Harvard Medical School, where he studies the molecular mechanism of viral entry at the Division of Molecular Medicine. Dr. Cai received his Ph.D. from Xiamen University, then joined Dr. Bing Chen’s lab as a research fellow for postgraduate training since 2015. His recent research focusing on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein reveals the structural details on how SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to enhance viral fitness and immune evasion, which extended our understanding of viral entry and suggested an improved immunogen for vaccine development.

Highlighted Publications (2020-2021):

1. Cai Y*, Zhang J*, Xiao T*, Lavine CL, Rawson S, Peng H, Zhu H, Anand K, Tong P, Gautam A, Lu S, Sterling SM, Walsh RM, Rits-Volloch S, Lu J, Wesemann DR, Yang W, Seaman MS, Chen B. Structural basis for enhanced infectivity and immune evasion of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Science. 2021 Jun 24. eabi9745. (* co-first author)

2. Zhang J*, Cai Y*, Xiao T, Lu J, Peng H, Sterling SM, Walsh RM, Rits-Volloch S, Zhu H, Woosley AN, Yang W, Sliz P, Chen B. Structural impact on SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by D614G substitution. Science. 2021 04 30; 372(6541):525-530. (* co-first author)

3. Cai Y*, Zhang J*, Xiao T, Peng H, Sterling SM, Walsh RM, Rawson S, Rits-Volloch S, Chen B. Distinct conformational states of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Science. 2020 Sep 25;369(6511):1586-1592. (* co-first author).

Dr. Yi Li obtained his bachelor degree of Clinical Medicine and Ph.D. degree of Genetics from Southeast University. Then, he joined Zhigang He’s lab as a research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital since 2014. His postdoctoral researches have been focused on regrowth, repair and functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Dr. Li joined Institution of Neuroscience (ION/CEBSIT) as a Lab Head-Principal Investigator at Chinese Academy of Sciences in January, 2021. 

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Li Y*, He X*, Kawaguchi R*, Zhang Y, Wang Q, Monavarfeshani A, Yang Z, Chen B, Shi Z, Meng H, Zhou S, Zhu J, Jacobi A, Swarup V, Popovich P, Geschwind D, He Z.  Microglia-organized Scar-free spinal cord repair in neonatal mice. Nature. 2020 Oct 7; 587(7835): 613-618. 

2. Wang J*, He X*, Meng H, Li Y, Dmitriev P, Tian F, Page J, Lu Q, He Z.   Robust Myelination of Regenerated Axons Induced by Combined Manipulations of GPR17 and Microglia. Neuron. 2020 Dec 9; 108(5): 876-886 

Dr. Hai-Qiang Dai obtained his Ph.D. degree, under the mentorship of Dr. Guo-Liang Xu, at Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (SIBCB). Then he joined Dr. Fred Alt’s lab in July 2017 as a CRI Irvington postdoctoral fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he discovered the fundamental roles of loop extrusion in physiological Igh locus contraction for RAG chromatin scanning, and also collaborated with colleagues to develop the neural blastocyst complementation approach for mouse forebrain organogenesis. In August 2020, he was promoted as an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. This summer he had started his new career as a Principal Investigator at Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science (Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology).

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Hai-Qiang Dai#*, Hongli Hu#, Jiangman Lou, Adam Yongxin Ye, Zhaoqing Ba, Xuefei Zhang, Yiwen Zhang, Lijuan Zhao, Hye Suk Yoon, Aimee M. Chapdelaine-Williams, Nia Kyritsis, Huan Chen, Kerstin Johnson, Sherry Lin, Andrea Conte, Rafael Casellas, Cheng-Sheng Lee*, and Frederick W. Alt*. Loop extrusion mediates physiological Igh locus contraction for RAG scanning. Nature. (2021) 590, 338–343.

2. Hai-Qiang Dai#, Zhuoyi Liang#, Amelia N. Chang#, Aimee M. Chapdelaine-Williams, Beatriz Alvarado, Alex A. Pollen, Frederick W. Alt, and Bjoern Schwer. Direct analysis of brain phenotypes via neural blastocyst complementation. Nature Protocols. (2020) 15, 3154-3181.  (#co-first author, *corresponding author)

Dr. Xiaoqing Wang obtained his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology in 2007 at Dalian Medical University and his M.D. in Cardiology in 2015 at Dalian Medical University as well. Then he joined Drs. Xiaole Shirley Liu and Myles Brown’s lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a postdoc research fellow to study the immunotherapy for triple negative breast cancer. His research has been focusing on finding the potential targets for cancer immunotherapy by using CRISPR screenings and understanding the mechanism that how novel target modulates anti-tumor immunity. 

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Wang X*, Tokheim C*, Wang B*, Gu SS*, Tang Q, Li Y, Traugh N, Zhang Y, Li Z, Zhang B, Fu J, Xiao T, Li W, Meyer C, Chu J, Cejas P, Lim K, Long H, Brown M#, Liu XS#. In vivo CRISPR screens identify E3 ligase Cop1 as a cancer immunotherapy target by modulating macrophage infiltration. Cell, accepted on Jul 26, 2021. (* Co-first author; # Co-corresponding author)

2. Gu SS*, Zhang W*, Wang X*, Jiang P*, Traugh N, Li Z, Meyer C, Stewig B, Xie Y, Bu X, Manos MP, Font-Tello A, Gjini E, Lako A, Conway J, Tewari AK, Zeng Z, Sahu A, Tokheim C, Weirather JL, Fu J, Zhang Y, Kroger B, Liang J, Cejas P, Freeman GJ, Rodig S, Long HW, Gewurz BE, Hodi FS, Brown M#, Liu XS# (2021). Therapeutically increasing MHC-I expression potentiates immune checkpoint blockade. Cancer Discovery. (* Co-first author; # Co-corresponding author) PMID: 33589424.

3. Tokheim C*, Wang X*, Timms R*, Zhang B, Mena E, Wang B, Chen C, Ge J, Chu J, Zhang W, Elledge S#, Brown M#, Liu XS# (2021). Systematic characterization of mutations altering protein degradation in human cancers. Molecular Cell. 18:81. (* Co-first author; # Co-corresponding author) PMID: 33567269.

4. Gu SS*, Wang X*, Hu X*, Jiang P, Li Z, Traugh N, Bu X, Tang Q, Wang C, Zeng Z, Fu J, Meyer C, Zhang Y, Cejas P, Lim K, Wang J, Zhang W, Tokheim C, Sahu A, Xing X, Kroger B, Ouyang Z, Long H, Freeman GJ#, Brown M#, Liu XS# (2020). Clonal tracing reveals diverse patterns of response to immune checkpoint blockade. Genome Biology. 21:263. (* Co-first author; # Co-corresponding author) PMID: 33059736.

Shiyu Xia obtained his Bachelor's degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University before he joined the PhD Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard University in 2016. Under the supervision of Prof. Hao Wu and in close collaboration with Profs. Judy Lieberman, Anna Greka, and Jonathan Kagan, Shiyu studies the functions and mechanisms of gasdermins, a newly discovered family pore-forming proteins implicated in pyroptosis and innate immunity.

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Xia, S., Zhang, Z., Magupalli, V.G., Pablo, J.L., Dong, Y., Vora, S.M., Wang, L., Fu, T.-M., Jacobson, M.P.,Greka, A., Lieberman, J., Ruan, J.# and Wu, H.#, 2021. Gasdermin D pore structure reveals preferential release of mature interleukin-1. Nature, 593(7860), pp. 607-611. (# co-corresponding author).

2. Zhang, Z.*,#, Zhang, Y.*, Xia, S., Kong, Q., Li, S., Liu, X., Junqueira, C., Meza-Sosa, K.F., Mok, T.M.Y., Ansara, J., Sengupta, S., Yao, Y., Wu, H. and Lieberman, J.#, 2020. Gasdermin E suppresses tumour growth by activating anti-tumour immunity. Nature, 579(7799), pp.415-420. (* co-first author. # co-corresponding author).

3. Liu, X.*, #, Xia, S.*, Zhang, Z.*, Wu, H.# and Lieberman, J.#, 2021. Channelling inflammation: gasdermins in physiology and disease. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, pp.1-22. (* co-first author. # co-corresponding author).

Chenyang Jiang received her B.S. in biological sciences from Sichuan University in 2016 and M.S. in pathobiology from University of Connecticut in 2017. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant with Drs. Xu Yu and Mathias Lichterfeld at Ragon Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital to study HIV/AIDS by developing and applying novel genetic and epigenetic tools to characterize viral reservoirs in HIV-1 elite controllers. She then joined the BCMB Allied Program at Weill Cornell Medicine in 2020, and is a current Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Josefowicz to investigate epigenetic regulation of transcription in rapid stimulation-induced immune cell responses. 

Highlighted publication (2020-2021):

1. Jiang C*, Lian X*, Gao C*, Sun X, Einkauf KB, Chevalier JM, Chen SMY, Hua S, Rhee B, Chang K, Blackmer JE, Osborn M, Peluso MJ, Hoh R, Somsouk M, Milush J, Bertagnolli LN, Sweet SE, Varriale JA, Burbelo PD, Chun TW, Laird GM, Serrao E, Engelman AN, Carrington M, Siliciano RF, Siliciano JM, Deeks SG, Walker BD, Lichterfeld M, Yu XG. Distinct viral reservoirs in individuals with spontaneous control of HIV-1. Nature. 2020; 585(7824):261-267. (*equal contribution)