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Discovery, biochemistry, and working mechanisms of programmable nucleases.

This static webpage is designed by Chendi Zhang and Zhuang Li based on HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and hosted via Github.

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ZhuangLi

Principal Investigator

In 2018, he got his PhD degree in Dr. Haitao Li's lab (Tsinghua) where he works on epigenetics. From 2018 to 2021, he had postdoc training in Dr. Leifu Chang's lab (Purdue) where he learnt cryo-EM and worked on CRISPR. He had a short stay at Dr. Liang Tong's lab (CUNY). Since 2022, he started independent research with focus on the discovery, biochemistry, and working mechanism of programmable nucleases. He is much like a slasher. In his early stage, he grows a lot interest in different branches of biology, but later on narrows into biochemistry and structural biology. Still, he has broad interests in all kinds of cool stuff, and always eager to learn something new. He has long-lasting interests in computers and chemistry (the biology-related kind), and now he is planning on being a bioinformatics guy. In his spare time, he spent time on computer games, billiards, badmintons, and table tennis.

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Fugen Chen

Graduate Student (since 2022)

In 2022, He got his bachelor’s degree in Yangtze university. In 2025, He’ll get his master degree majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology in Zhuang Li’s lab with vibrant atmosphere in Hubei university. With his tutor’s guidance and his passionate about anything unknow, he delved into the working mechanism of CRISPR-Cas system since 2022. Outside of academics, he always dive into computer games in his spare time, and sometimes do some physical exercise such as running to ensure a healthy body.

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Feng Wang

Graduate Student (since 2023)

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Haijiang Xu

Graduate Student (since 2022)

My name is Xu Haijiang, I was born in Henan Province in the Central Plains of China, and I grew up in the land of the Central Plains, which taught me to be practical and serious in everything I do, and this belief continues to this day, and it is still the standard of self-regulation. In 2018, he studied at Henan University of Urban Construction, mainly in the Lutie lab to study topics related to macrofungi, in which he saw the scientific world existing in nature. In 2022, he studied for a master's degree at Hubei University, and did research on the biochemical molecules and structural biology of CRISPR system-related proteins in Professor LiZhuang's lab, and is mainly doing molecular cloning, protein purification and some related biochemical experiments. During my master's degree, I always learned something new in the passionate group meeting once a week. In addition to scientific research, our research group will also organize some sports activities, badminton once a week to strengthen our physical fitness, I usually play basketball to relax myself, and music is also one of my hobbies.I will focus on biochemical experiments, and Python is also a skill I want to master, I will use it to improve my office productivity, and I also want to learn some skills related to Ps drawing and Pr video editing.

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Jialin Xue

Graduate Student (since 2022)

Hello, everyone! My name is Jialin Xue, and I am excited to be a part of this dynamic lab. As someone who has always been curious about the world, I found myself fascinated by the biological world. In the lab, I love the meticulous attention to detail and the enthusiasm to tackle new challenges. I enjoy collaborating with my colleagues and learning from their different perspectives. In my spare time, I read and listen to music. I find these activities help to relax the body and mind.

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Chendi Zhang

Graduate Student (since 2022)

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Huimin Gong

Graduate Student (since 2024)

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Huacang Yao

Graduate Student (since 2024)

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Previous members
Representative Publications

Mechanisms for HNH-mediated target DNA cleavage in type I CRISPR-Cas systems

Zhang C.*, Chen F.*, Wang F.*, Xu H.*, Xue J.*, and Li Z.#

This work provides the working mechanism of type I-F and I-E variant systems which are fused with HNH nuclease domain to precisely cleave target DNA. Please find detailed digestion into this paper in the blogs section.

Molecular Cell 2024

Molecular mechanism for target RNA recognition and cleavage of Cas13h

Chen F.*, Zhang C.*, Xue J., Wang F. and Li Z.#

This work provides the working mechanism of Cas13h1, a novel Cas13 subtype. Please find detailed digestion into this paper in the blogs section.

Nucleic Acids Research 2024

Molecular mechanism for target recognition, dimerization, and activation of Pyrococcus furiosus Argonaute

Wang L.*, Chen W.*, Zhang C.*, Xie X., Huang F., Chen M., Mao W., Yu N., Wei Q., Ma L.#, and Li Z.#

This work provides the first evidence that dimerization plays important role in cleavage activity of Argonaute.

Molecular Cell 2024

Structural Basis for the Ribonuclease Activity of a Thermostable CRISPR-Cas13a from Thermoclostridium caenicola.

Wang F.*, Zhang C.*, Xu H., Zeng W., Ma L., and Li Z.#

This work is about a thermostable Cas13a which lacks pre-crRNA processing activity. Please check the blogs for author digestion

Journal of Molecular Biology 2023

Other Publications

Insights into the modulation of bacterial NADase activity by phage proteins.

Hang Yin, Xuzichao Li, Xiaoshen Wang, Chendi Zhang, Jiaqi Gao, Guimei Yu, Qiuqiu He, Jie Yang, Xiang Liu, Yong Wei, Zhuang Li & Heng Zhang

Nature Communications 2024

Structural and biochemical characterization of the key components of an auxin degradation operon from the rhizosphere bacterium Variovorax.

Ma, Y.*, Li, X.*, Wang, F.*, Zhang, L., Zhou, S., Che, X., Yu, D., Liu, X., Li, Z.#, Sun, H.#, Yu, G.#, Zhang, H.#.

Plos Biology 2023

An examination of the metal ion content in the active sites of human endonucleases CPSF73 and INTS11.

Huang, J.*, Liu, X.*, Sun, Y.*, Li, Z., Lin, M., Hamilton, K., Mandel, C., Sandmeir, F., Conti, E., Oyala, P., Tong, L.#.

Journal of Biological Chemistry 2023

Molecular architecture of the augmin complex.

Gabel, C., Li, Z., DeMarco, A., Zhang, Z., Yang, J., Hall, M., Barford, D., Chang, L.#.

Nature Communications 2022.

Structure of a G protein-coupled receptor kinase engaging its GPCR.

Chen, Q., Plasencia, M., Li, Z., Mukherjee, S., Patra, D., Chen, C., Klose, T., Yao, X., Kossiakoff, A., Chang, L., Andrews, P., Tesmer, J.#.

Nature 2021

Cryo-Electron Microscopy Structures of Yeast Alcohol Dehydrogenase.

Guntupalli, S. R.*, Li, Z.*, Chang, L., Plapp, B. V., Subramanian, R.#.

Biochemistry 2021

Mechanisms for target recognition and cleavage by the Cas12i RNA-guided endonuclease.

Zhang, H.*, Li, Z.*, Xiao, R.*, and Chang, L.#.

Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 2020

Cryo-EM structure of a type I-F CRISPR RNA guided surveillance complex bound to transposition protein TniQ.

Li, Z.*, Zhang, H.*, Xiao, R., and Chang, L.#.

Cell Research 2020

Structural Basis for the Inhibition of CRISPR-Cas12a by Anti-CRISPR Proteins.

Zhang, H.*, Li, Z.*, Daczkowski, C.M., Gabel, C., Mesecar, A.D., and Chang, L.#.

Cell Host & Microbe 2019

Structural and biochemical characterization of DAXX-ATRX interaction.

Li, Z., Zhao, D., Xiang, B., and Li, H.#.

Protein & Cell 2017

Sep 08, 2024

Huimin and Huacang joined the lab to pursue master degree.

Sep 2, 2024

Collaboration work published with old friend on Nucleic Acids Research. Congratulations to Heng, his crew, and Chendi~~

Jul 23, 2024

Our work on type I CRISPR-Cas variant system was published in Molecular Cell. Cheers~~

Jul 5, 2024

All the crew members went to Dalian city to attend the conference, and enjoy the beach~~

Jul 5, 2024

My Postdoc mentor Leifu from Purdue University and my old colleague Heng from Tianjin Medical University visited Hubei University, and gave nice talks on their recent work.

Apr 25, 2024

Our work on Cas13h was published in Nucleic Acids Research. Excellent biochemistry from Fugen! Many congratulations~~

Mar 26, 2024

Collaboration work published with old friend on Nature Communications. Congratulations to Heng, his crew, and Chendi~~

Jan 30, 2024

Our favorite story of PfAgo gets published on Molecular Cell in collaboration with Dr. Lixin Ma. Many Congratulations to Dr. Longyu Wang, Dr. Wanping Chen, and Chendi~~

Sep 09, 2023

Feng started to pursue her PhD degree.

Aug 20, 2023

Collaboration work published with old friend on Nucleic Acids Research. Congratulations to Heng, his crew, and Chendi~~

Jul 17,2023

Collaboration work published with old friend on Plos Biology. Congratulations to Heng, his crew, and Feng~~

Jul 01, 2023

Our work on Cas13a get published in Journal of Molecular Biology. Things are always hard before they are getting easy! This is the first time Feng published her first-author paper, and Zhuang published his last-authored paper.

Mar 03, 2023

The crew finally had some place to work and start experiments.

Dec 05, 2022

Got research funding $$$ under the wings of Dr. Shihui Yang ~~

Oct 01, 2022

Research funding $$$

Sep 21, 2022

Research funding $$$

Sep 09, 2022

Chendi, Fugen, Haijiang, and Jialin joined the lab to pursue the master degrees, and started experiment from scratch.

Jun 12, 2022

Feng joined the lab as a technician, and started working on different juvenile projects.

Apr 21, 2022

Chendi joined the lab, and started working on cryo-EM very seriously.

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