2005 - 2009  B.Sc., Sichuan University

2009 - 2012  M.Sc., Sichuan University

2013 - 2017  DPhil, University of Oxford

2018 -           Associate Professor, Institute of Biophysics, CAS

Picornavirus family are a group of unenveloped, single, positive-stranded RNA viruses, picornavirusinfections could result in a wide array of diseases including hand, foot, and mouth disease, hepatitisA and poliomyelitis, etc. Using a combination of structural techniques, virological and cellular biological methods we endeavor to reveal the mechanisms by whichpicornavirus enter the host cell and uncoat, on the basis of which we could design small-molecule drugs that efficiently inhibit viral entry, furthermore, we work to select vaccine candidates that are stable and of great immunogenicity.

1. Zhu L^#*, Sun Y^#, Fan J^#, Zhu B, Cao L, Gao Q, Zhang Y, Liu H, Rao Z*, Wang X*. Structures of CoxsackievirusA10 shed light on the molecular mechanisms of receptor binding and uncoating of enteroviruses. Nature Communications, 2018 , 2018, 9: 4985. 

2. Zhu L^#, Xu K^#, Wang N^#, Cao L, Wu J, Gao Q, Fry E.E, Stuart D.I, Rao Z, Wang J, Wang X*. Neutralization Mechanisms of Two Highly Potent Antibodies against Human Enterovirus 71. Mbio. 2018, 01013-18.

3. Zhu L^#, Wang X^#, Ren J, Kotecha A, Walter T.S, Yuan S, TuthillT.J, Fry E.E, Rao Z* and Stuart D.I*. Structure of human Aichi virus and implications for receptor binding. Nature Microbiology. 2016.9.5, 1 (11):16150~16150   

4. Zhu L^#, Wang X^#, Ren J, Porta C, Wenham H, Ekstrom J, Panjwani A, Knowles N.J, Kotecha A, Siebert A.C, A. Lindberg M, Fry E.E, Rao Z and Stuart D.I. Structure of Ljungan virus reveals a novel mechanism for picornavirus genome packaging. Nature Communications. 2015,6:8316. 

5. Zhu L, Zhang X. Hepatitis A virus exhibits a structure unique among picornaviruses, Protein & Cell. 2015, 6(2):79–80. 

6. Wang X^#*, Zhu L^#, Dang M^#, Hu Z^#, Gao Q, Yuan S, Sun Y, Zhang B, Ren J, Wang J, Fry E.E*, Stuart D.I* and Rao Z*. Potent neutralization of Hepatitis A virus reveals effected by a receptor mimic mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2017.1.24, 114(4):770~775. 

7. Wang X^#, Li S^#, Zhu L^#, Nian Q^#, Gao Q, Nian Q, Hu Z, Fry E.E, Qin C*, Stuart D.I* and Rao Z*. Near-atomic structure of Japanese encephalitis virus reveals critical determinants of virulence and stability, Nature Communications, 2017, 10.1038. 

8. Ren J^#, Wang X^#, Zhu L^#,Hu Z^#, Li X, Wang J, Fry E.E, Rao Z* and Stuart D.I*. Structures of coxsackievirusA16 capsids with native antigenicity, implications for particle expansion, receptor binding and immunogenicity. Journal of Virology. 2015. 89 (20) :10500-10511. 

9. Xie D, Liu Z, Nian Q, Zhu L, Wang N, Deng Y, Zhao H, Ji X, Li X, Wang X, Shi P & Qin C. A single residue in the αB helix of the E protein is critical for Zika virus thermostability. Emerging Microbes &Infections , 2018.10.1038/s41426-017-0006-9. 

(From Ling Zhu, October 27, 2020)