CIMR-Wenhui He

Research Group

Wenhui He

hewenhui(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Assistant Investigator

Developing Antibodies against Multi-Transmembrane Proteins,

HIV Vaccines and Functional Cure,

Precision Gene Delivery Systems

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hewenhui(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

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B.S. in Bioengineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, National Institute of Biological Science, Beijing, China

Work Experience

2024-Present

Assistant Investigator, Chinese Institute for Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China

2023-2024

Senior Staff Scientist, Harvard Medical School affiliated Boston Children's Hospital and the Broad Institute, USA

2017-2022

Postdoctoral Associate, Scripps Research Institute, USA

2013-2017

Postdoctoral Associate, National Institute of Biological Science, Beijing, China

Honors and Awards

2026

Recipient of the National Overseas Young Talents Program

2025

Recipient of the Beijing Overseas Young Talents Program

Research Interests

By leveraging a novel in vivo B-cell-based protein evolution platform coupled with in vitro high-throughput functional antibody screening strategies, He laboratory focuses on developing functional antibodies targeting multi-transmembrane proteins for pain management. Concurrently, He lab is dedicated to the development of HIV-1 vaccines and therapeutic protein molecules, as well as the design of novel precision gene delivery strategies to achieve a functional cure for HIV-1.

Major Contributions

1. Established a mouse model for evaluating HIV-1 vaccine candidates through the in vivo evolution of edited B cell receptors (BCRs) (Immunity, 2023; Molecular Therapy, 2021).

2. Significantly contributed to the establishment of a protein in vivo evolution platform based on the affinity maturation of edited BCRs in the germinal center (Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2024; Under Revision).

3. Made substantial contributions to the discovery of the hepatitis B virus receptor (eLife, 2012), established mouse models for hepatitis D virus infection (PLoS Pathogen, 2015; Journal of Virology, 2016), and played a significant role in establishing a liver humanized mouse model for preclinical evaluations of the anti-preS1 monoclonal antibody 2H5-A14 (eLife, 2017; Virology, 2023).

Representative Publications *：Co-first author; #：Co-corresponding author

Pan A, Bailey CC, Ou T, Xu J, Liu X, Hu B, Crynen G, Skamangas N, Bronkema N, Tran M, Mu H, Zhang X, Yin Y, Alpert MD, He W^#, Farzan M^#. In vivo affinity maturation of the HIV-1 Env-binding domains of CD4. Under Revision, 2024. DOI: 1101/2024.02.03.578630

Yin Y, Guo Y, Jiang Y, Quinlan B, Peng H, Crynen, He W, Zhang L, Ou T, Bailey C, Farzan M. In vivo affinity maturation of murine B cells reprogrammed to express human antibodies. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41551-024-01179-6

He W*, Ou T*, Skamangas N, Bailey CC, Bronkema N, Guo Y, Yin Y, Kobzarenko V, Zhang X, Pan A, Liu X, Xu J, Zhang L, Allwardt AE, Mitra D, Quinlan B, Sanders RW, Choe H, Farzan M. Heavy-chain CDR3-engineered B cells facilitate in vivo evaluation of HIV-1 vaccine candidates. Immunity, 2023, 56: 2408-2424. DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.07.003

Ou T*, He W*, Quinlan BD, Guo Y, Tran MH, Karunadharma P, Park H, Davis-Gardner ME, Yin Y, Zhang X, Wang H, Zhong G, Farzan M. Reprogramming of the heavy-chain CDR3 regions of a human antibody repertoire. Molecular Therapy, 2022, 30: 184-197. DOI: 1016/j.ymthe.2021.10.027

Guo Y*, He W*, Mou H*, Zhang L*, Chang J, Peng S, Ojha A, Tavora R, Parcells MS, Luo G, Li W, Zhong G, Choe H, Farzan M, Quinlan BD. An Engineered Receptor-Binding Domain Improves the Immunogenicity of Multivalent SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines. mBio, 2021, 12. DOI: 1128/mBio.00930-21

Guo G, He W, Zhou Z, Diao Y, Sui J, Li W. PreS1- targeting chimeric antigen receptor T cells diminish HBV infection in liver humanized FRG mice. Virology, 2023, 586: 23-34. DOI: 1016/j.virol.2023.06.015

Li D, He W, Liu X, Zheng S, Qi Y, Li H, Mao F, Liu J, Sun Y, Pan L, Du K, Ye K, Li W, Sui J. A potent human neutralizing antibody Fc-dependently reduces established HBV infections. eLife, 2017, 6: e26738. DOI: 7554/eLife.26738

He W, Cao Z, Mao F, Ren B, Li Y, Li D, Li H, Peng B, Yan H, Qi Y, Sun Y, Wang F, Sui J, Li W. Modification of three amino acids in sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide renders mice susceptible to infection with Hepatitis D Virus in vivo. Journal of Virology, 2016, 90: 8866-8874. DOI: 1128/JVI.00901-16

He W*, Ren B*, Mao F, Jing Z, Li Y, Liu Y, Peng B, Yan H, Qi Y, Sun Y, Guo JT, Sui J, Wang F, Li W. Hepatitis D virus infection of mice expressing human sodium taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide. PLoS Pathogens, 2015, 11: e1004840. DOI: 1371/journal.ppat.1004840

Yan H, Zhong G, Xu G, He W, Jing Z, Gao Z, Huang Y, Qi Y, Peng B, Wang H, Fu L, Song M, Chen P, Gao W, Ren B, Sun Y, Cai T, Feng X, Sui J, Li W. Sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide is a functional receptor for human hepatitis B and D virus. eLife, 2012, 1: e00049. DOI: 7554/eLife.00049

Full List of Publications Can Be Found Here