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Academic Qualifications

Post-doctoral associate, Cornell University (United State of America), 2022

Ph.D., Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (China), 2017

B.Sc., Anhui Normal University (China), 2012

Research Areas

CRISPR-Cas immunity system; Genome-editing technology; Cryo-EM; Structural Biology; Biochemistry

Research Interests

​ The Hu lab is interested in fundamental molecular mechanisms of biological macro-molecules in organisms. We focus on elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control the assembly, regulation, and therapeutic application of supramolecular complexes in immunity systems. Our current research focuses on CRISPR-Cas systems which are adaptive immunity systems in procaryotes to defeat viruses. Our ongoing projects include but not limited to the followings:

 

1) Identification of novel CRISPR-Cas systems.

2) High-resolution mechanism study of supermolecule complexes.

3) Development and application of new genome-editing tools.

4) Diagnostic platform innovation based on CRISPR-Cas systems.

5) Therapeutic intervention based on gene-editing and RNA technologies.

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6) Real-time reporter/imaging system exploring in cells.

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7) Immunity beyond CRISPR.

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Selected Publications

1. Chunyi Hu*, Sam P. B. van Beljouw*, Ki Hyun Nam, Gabriel Schuler, Fran Ding, Yanru Cui, Alicia Rodríguez-Molina, Anna C Haagsma, Menno Valk, Martin Pabst, Stan J.J. Brouns‡, Ailong Ke‡. CRISPR Craspase is an RNA-guided, RNA-activated protease. Science. 2022. (10.1126/science.add5064)

2. ​Chunyi Hu*, Cristóbal Almendros*, Ki Hyun Nam, Ana Rita Costa, Jochem NA Vink, Anna C Haagsma, Saket R Bagde, Stan JJ Brouns‡, Ailong Ke‡. Mechanism for Cas4-assisted directional spacer acquisition in CRISPR–Cas. Nature. 598, pages515–520 (2021)

3. ​Gabriel Schuler*, Chunyi Hu* (co-first author), Ailong Ke. Structural basis for RNA-guided DNA cleavage by IscB-ωRNA and the evolutionary connection with Cas9-crRNA-tracrRNA. Science. 2022. DOI: 0.1126/science.abq7220

4. Chunyi Hu, Dongchun Ni, Ki Hyun Nam, Sonali Majumdar, Justin McLean, Henning Stahlberg, Michael P Terns, Ailong Ke. Allosteric control of Type I-A CRISPR-Cas3 complexes and establishment as effective nucleic acid detection and human genome editing tools, Molecular Cell, 2022 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.007

5. Chunyi Hu*, Rekha Rai*, Chenhui Huang, Cayla Broton, Juanjuan Long, Ying Xu, Jing Xue, Ming Lei‡, Sandy Chang‡, Yong Chen‡. (2017) Structural and functional analyses of the mammalian TIN2-TPP1-TRF2 telomeric complex. Cell research, 27, 1485-1502.

6. Chunyi Hu*, Haruna Inoue*, Wenqi Sun*, Yumiko Takeshita, Yaoguang Huang, Ying Xu, Junko Kanoh‡, Yong Chen‡. (2019) Structural insights into chromosome attachment to the nuclear envelope by an inner nuclear membrane protein Bqt4 in fission yeast. Nucleic acids research, 47, 1573-1584.

 

Please visit our website for more updates, including newer preprints.