Our long-term objectives are to decipher the anti-bacterial or anti-viral effect of intracellular metabolism. Our research is focused on understanding the pathogenesis of pathogens (bacteria and virus) and how innate immunity or cell-autonomous immunity resists microorganisms.

Cell division, adhesion and migration are tightly regulated during embryonic development. Dysregulation of these processes often lead to developmental diseases or malignant transformation. Our lab uses the cutting-edge microscopy, multi-omics and gene-editing approaches to decipher the underlying mechanisms of mitosis, cell adhesion and their interplay. We aim to understand the biological relevance of these mechanisms in the three-dimensional environment and tumor progression.

Cells are the basic structure and functional unit of organisms and play a key role in life activities. Proteins are the most abundant type of biomolecules in cells. Their structure, activity, movement and dynamic interaction with other biomolecules are the material basis for performing various cell functions. How to label and regulate these protein machines in situ in their natural environment-living cells is a challenging scientific problem.

Our overarching interests are understanding the co-evolution between host and microbe and translating this knowledge into new immunotherapy strategies against microbial infections.(1) Exploring microbial mechanisms of immune evasion;(2) Screening and optimizing antigen epitopes and mAb therapies by targeting microbial immune evasion;(3) Exploring how host impacts antibody therapy, and developing vaccine and mAb suitable for different groups of people.

1. AI in biomedical applications; 2. Bioinformatics; 3. Computer aided drug design; 4. Science and arts (protein art, protein music)

Pleasant touch, itch, pain, instinctive behavior, emotion contagion, empathy, and prosocial behavior.

Dr. Chu’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of innate immunity, in particular the role of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway in neurodegenerative diseases. The research areas in the future include: 1) Molecular mechanisms of innate immunity signaling pathways; 2) The role and mechanism of innate immunity in neurodegenerative diseases; 3) Research on pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and the development of inhibitors; 4) The role of microglia and astrocytes in neurodegenerative diseases; 5) Molecular mechanism of autoimmune diseases, etc.

The Deng laboratory is interested in cell cycle regulation and genome instability. We use a combination of cutting-edge techniques such as in vitro biochemical reconstitution, genome engineering, high throughput live-cell imaging, genome sequencing and so forth, to address how cells coordinate growth and division under normal and pathological conditions such as cancer.

Study of molecular mechanisms responsible for mechanotransduction in living cells.Understanding the role of mechanical and topological constraints in regulation of DNA-protein interactions and chromatin organization in living cells.Exploration of molecular mechanisms underlying mechanochemical coupling in cytoskeletal motor proteins, and their role in regulation of intracellular transportation.Development and application of single-molecule force-spectroscopy methods for investigation of the above questions.

Our lab is doing research in the fields of theoretical/computational chemistry and biophysical chemistry. We are developing efficient computational methods and statistical mechanics tools to study the conformations of biological molecules in aqueous solutions, mechanisms of enzymatic reactions, and the solvation effects in chemical reactions. We are also interested in understanding the chromosome folding principle and gene expression regulatory mechanism. The lab is working on the simulation/theoretical studies of the following systems: (1) thermodynamics, dynamics and kinetics of electrolytes solutions (2) dynamics and spectra calculations for aqueous solutions (3) chemical/enzymatic reactions in solutions/at interfaces (4) the modeling of chromatin spatial structures and studying the relations between structures and important genome features (5) multiscale gene regulation mechanism in cell.