Biomembranes distinguish life from non-living matter in our world. In essence, either pathogen invasion of human cells or the functioning of our immune system relies on the precise molecular recognition on the membrane and the information exchange across the membrane. For instance, viruses utilize host receptors to open the “door” on the cell membrane for infection; immune cells live in a signaling network, in which cells determine their functions and fates by accepting instructions via various ligand-receptor interactions; antibodies and T-cell receptors recognize specific antigens presented on the surface of infected cells or tumor cells to exert immune protection.
Dr. Haoyang Li and his research group focus on capturing and delineating these crucial molecular interactions in action to fundamentally understand the mechanisms of viral infection, immune signaling networks, and protection conferred by the immune system. The essential knowledge and insights gained through structural immunology research provide high-resolution, molecular-level blueprints for novel vaccine design and therapeutic innovation.
By applying the powerful mechanism-to-therapeutic approach, Dr. Li is currently leading his team in understanding how Old World arenaviruses hijack host receptors to facilitate infection, architecting novel Lassa virus immunogens to guide the immune system toward comprehensive protection, and uncovering the mechanisms of immunoregulatory molecules to precisely tune inflammatory signaling for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, life-threatening infections and cancers.
