Native structural studies on enveloped virus invasion mechanism via cryo-electron tomography, and other biochemical or biophysical techniques.

My research project focuses on the structural engineering of 2D nanomaterials for cryo-EM. By the structural engineering and surface/interface modification of 2D nanomaterials, the 2D material-based grids for cryo-EM can be prepared, which can greatly enhance the resolution of single-particle cryo-EM and cryo-ET. In this project, the inter-disciplinary study among material science, chemistry and biology can, in turn, significantly boost the breakthrough of cryo-EM in biology, chemistry and other research fields.

Molecular mechanisms and applications of novel nucleic acid manipulation tool. Currently, it is very inefficient to achieve gene-specific insertion based on the traditional CRISPR system. Therefore, I want to solve structures of the tool in order to understand the molecular mechanisms by cryo-EM, and combine multidisciplinary methods to develop its multi-functional applications.

Structural biology of complex in epigenetics. The molecular mechanism of complex recognition during the establishment of histone modification was researched by crystallography and single particle Cryo-EM.

To explain the molecular mechanism of cell respiration by analyzing the three-dimensional structure of respiratory chain complexes

Structural investigation of voltage-gated sodium channels with specific drugs or toxins.

Explore graphene-based novel supporting films for cryo-EM specimen preparation, and investigate the molecular basis of RNA-related complexes by cryo-EM.

My research focuses on elucidating the architecture and mechanism of African swine fever virus capsid assembly and maturation by cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography. Based on protein structures and molecular mechanisms, I study on the antiviral drug and vaccine development.

The study of the interaction between biological structures and specific forms of non-ionizing electromagnetic waves. The interaction between the biological structures and various forms of electromagnetic waves is studied through electronic assay.

Major research field is structural biology, biophysical biology and application of phycobilisome and related proteins from marine Red Algae. Phycobilisomes are huge light-harvesting complexes in cyanobacteria and red algae. Firstly, I resolved the first intact phycobilisome structure at near-atomic resolution by Cryo-EM single particle 3D reconstruction techniques. These results built solid foundation for revealing mechanism of phycobilisome assembling and energy transferring. Then, I will combine Cryo-EM single particle 3D reconstruction techniques, Cryo-EM tomography techniques to resolve phycobilisome and phycobilisome-thylakoid structures from other Red Algae and try to elucidate the biological mechanism of phycobilisome structure in coincidence with their energy transferring function.

Cellular metabolic state and epigenetic landscape are mutually regulated. I will combine structural and functional methods to investigate the recognition of epigenetic modifications and the regulation mechanism of gene expression.

Biophysics, epigenetics, phase separation of biomacromolecules