Chunlai Chen Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Main Research Fields

1) Develop cutting-edge single molecule fluorescence methods.

2) Dynamics and molecular mechanisms of target searching of proteins on DNA.

3) Molecular mechanisms of CRISPR proteins in target searching and cleavage.

Selected Publications

1. Xiaolin Niu(#), Ruirui Sun(#), Zhifeng Chen, Yirong Yao, Xiaobing Zuo, Chunlai Chen (*) and Xianyang Fang (*), (2021) Pseudoknot length modulates the folding, conformational dynamics and robustness of Xrn1 resistance of flaviviral xrRNAs, Nat Commun, 10.1038/s41467-021-26616-x

2. Mengyi Yang, Ruirui Sun, Pujuan Deng, Yuzhuo Yang, Wenjuan Wang, Jun-Jie Gogo Liu (*) and Chunlai Chen (*), (2021) Nonspecific interactions between SpCas9 and dsDNA sites located downstream of the PAM mediate facilitated diffusion to accelerate target search, Chem Sci, 12, 12776-12784

3. Ming-Jie Han(#), Qing-tao He(#), Mengyi Yang(#), Chao Chen, Yirong Yao, Xiaohong Liu, Yuchuan Wang, Zhong-liang Zhu, Kong-kai Zhu, Changxiu Qu, Fan Yang, Cheng Hu, Xuzhen Guo, Dawei Zhang, Chunlai Chen (*), Jin-peng Sun (*) and Jiangyun Wang (*), (2021) Single-molecule FRET and conformational analysis of beta-arrestin-1 through genetic code expansion and a Se-click reaction, Chem Sci,12, 9114-9123

4. Sijia Peng (#), Weiping Li (#), Yirong Yao (#), Wenjing Xing, Pilong Li (*) and  Chunlai Chen (*), (2020) Phase separation at the nanoscale quantified by dcFCCS, PNAS,117(44):27124-27131

5. Sijia Peng (#), Xiaowei Wang (#), Lu Zhang (#)(*), Shanshan He, Xin Sheng Zhao (*), Xuhui Huang (*) and Chunlai Chen (*), (2020) Target search and recognition mechanisms of glycosylase AlkD revealed by scanning FRET-FCS and Markov State Models, PNAS,117(36):21889-21895

6. Bo Wu, Haibo Zhang, Ruirui Sun, Sijia Peng, Barry S Cooperman, Yale E Goldman(*), Chunlai Chen(*). (2018) Translocation kinetics and structural dynamics of ribosomes are modulated by the conformational plasticity of downstream pseudoknots. Nucleic Acids Research,46(18): 9736-9748.

7. Sijia Peng, Wenjuan Wang, and Chunlai Chen(*), (2018) Surface Transient Binding-Based Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (STB-FCS), a Simple and Easy-to-Implement Method to Extend the Upper Limit of the Time Window to Seconds,J. Phys. Chem. B,122(18): 4844-4850

8. Mengyi Yang(#), Sijia Peng(#), Ruirui Sun, Jingdi Lin, Nan Wang, and Chunlai Chen(*), (2018) The Conformational Dynamics of Cas9 Governing DNA Cleavage Are Revealed by Single-Molecule FRET, Cell Reports,22(2): 372-382

9. Sijia Peng, Mengyi Yang, Rui Ning Sun, Yang Liu, Wenjuan Wang, Qiaoran Xi, Haipeng Gong, and Chunlai Chen(*), (2018) Mechanism of actions of Oncocin, a proline-rich antimicrobial peptide, in early elongation revealed by single-molecule FRET, Protein & Cell, 9(10): 890-895

10. Sijia Peng, Ruirui Sun, Wenjuan Wang and Chunlai Chen(*), (2017) Single-Molecule Photoactivation FRET: A General and Easy-to-Implement Approach to Break the Concentration Barrier, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 56(24):6882-6885