CIMR-Shao-Cong Sun

Research Group

Shao-Cong Sun

ssun(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Distinguished Investigator

Cancer Immunology & Immunotherapy,

Autoimmune Diseases, T Cell Signaling and Regulation,

In Vivo CRISPR Screen & Single-Cell Multi-Omics,

CAR-T Cell Optimization

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ssun(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

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B.S. in Department of Biology, Hebei University, China

M.S. in Department of Microbiology, Stockholm University, Sweden

Ph.D. in Department of Microbiology, Stockholm University, Sweden

Work Experience

2024-Present

Distinguished Investigator and Director, Chinese Institute for Immunology, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China

2024-Present

Chair Professor, Capital Medical University, China

2017-2022

Deputy Chair, Department of Immunology, The University of TexasMD Anderson Cancer Center, USA

2014-2022

Director, Center for Inflammation and Cancer, The University ofTexas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA

2012-2022

Associate Director, Center for Cancer Immunology Research, TheUniversity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA

2013-2022

Moshe Talpaz Endowed Chair in Immunology, The University of TexasMD Anderson Cancer Center, USA

2011-2013

M.R.Evely Hudson Foundation Endowed Professor, The University ofTexas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA

2007-2022

Professor, Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MDAnderson Cancer Center, USA

2006-2007

Distinguished professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology,Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA

2002-2006

Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology,Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA

1999-2002

Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology,Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA

1994-1999

Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology,Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA

1992-1994

Postdoctoral Fellow, The Gladstone Institute of Virology and ImmunologyUniversity of California, San Francisco (advisor: Warner Greene)

Honors and Awards

2017

Elected fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

2015

The Dallas/Fort Worth living legend faculty achievement award in basic research, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

2015

Merit Award, NIH/NIAID

2013

Moshe Talpaz Endowed Chair in Immunology, UT MDACC

2012

Best Boss Award, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

2011

Endowed professorship, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

2006

Distinguished professor award, Penn State University

1994

American Foundation For AIDS Research (AmFAR) Scholar Award

Research Interests

Sun Lab focuses on the mechanisms governing T cell function in cancer immunity and autoimmunity. Sun Lab investigates the molecular pathways that regulate T cell dynamics, effector states, and dysfunction within the tumor microenvironment, as well as aberrant T cell responses to self-antigens in autoimmune diseases. Utilizing in vivo whole-genome CRISPR/Cas9 screening and single-cell multi-omics approaches, Sun Lab continues to discover novel regulators of T cell biology and dissect the dynamic changes of T cell subsets under disease conditions. To translate these findings, Sun Lab is characterizing these novel regulators using mouse models of CAR-T cell therapy, with the ultimate goal of enhancing therapeutic efficacy against solid tumors.

Major Contributions

1. Pioneered the discovery of IkB degradation as the mechanism of canonical NF-kB activation

2. Discovered the noncanonical NF-kB pathway and revealed its central mechanism of regulation

3. Revealed the function of noncanonical NF-kB pathway in regulating anticancer immunity, autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases

4. Seminal studies on the in vivo roles of ubiquitination in the regulation of T cell development, proinflammatory activation, and tolerance

5. Characterized novel regulators of T cell metabolism and exhaustion, suggesting new approaches to improve T cell-based cancer immunotherapy

6. Discovered a growth factor-TBK1 signaling axis in the regulation of tumor growth and tumor-mediated immunosuppression

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

Zhu L, Zhou X, Kim J, Gu M, Xie X, Li Y, Ko CJ, Gao T, Cheng X, Sun SC. Dapl1 controls NFATc2 activation to regulate CD8⁺ T cell exhaustion and responses in chronic infection and cancer. Nature Cell Biology, 2022, 24: 1165-1176. DOI: 10.1038/s41556-022-00942-8

Gu M*, Zhou X*, Sohn JH, Zhu L, Jie Z, Yang JY, Zheng X, Xie X, Yang J, Shi Y, Brightbill HD, Kim JB, Wang J, Cheng X, Sun SC. NF-κB-inducing kinase maintains T cell metabolic fitness in antitumor immunity. Nature Immunology, 2021, 22: 193-204. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-020-00829-6

Zhu L, Li Y, Xie X, Zhou X, Gu M, Jie Z, Ko CJ, Gao T, Hernandez BE, Cheng X, Sun SC. TBKBP1 and TBK1 form a growth factor signalling axis mediating immunosuppression and tumourigenesis. Nature Cell Biology, 2019, 21: 1604-1614. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05097-5

Zhou X, Yu J, Cheng X, Zhao B, Manyam GC, Zhang L, Schluns K, Li P, Wang J, Sun SC. The deubiquitinase Otub1 controls the activation of CD8(+) T cells and NK cells by regulating IL-15-mediated priming. Nature Immunology, 2019, 20: 879-889. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-019-0405-2

Jie Z, Yang JY, Gu M, Wang H, Xie X, Li Y, Liu T, Zhu L, Shi J, Zhang L, Zhou X, Joo D, Brightbill HD, Cong Y, Lin D, Cheng X, and Sun SC. NIK signaling axis regulates dendritic cell function in intestinal immunity and homeostasis. Nature Immunology, 2018, 19: 1224-1235. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-018-0206-z.

Wang B, Jie Z, Joo D, Ordureau A, Liu P, Gan W, Guo J, Zhang J, North BJ, Dai X, Cheng X, Bian X, Zhang L, Harper JW, Sun SC^#, Wei W^#. TRAF2 and OTUD7B govern a ubiquitin-dependent switch that regulates mTORC2 signalling. Nature, 545: 365-369. DOI: 10.1038/nature22344

Jin J, Xie X, Xiao Y, Hu H, Zou Q, Cheng X, Sun SC. Epigenetic regulation of the expression of Il12 and Il23 and autoimmune inflammation by the deubiquitinase Trabid. Nature Immunology, 2016, 17: 259-268. DOI: 10.1038/ni.3347

Nakaya M, Xiao Y, Zhou X, Chang JH, Chang M, Cheng X, Blonska M, Lin X, Sun SC. Inflammatory T cell responses rely on amino acid transporter ASCT2 facilitation of glutamine uptake and mTORC1 kinase activation. Immunity, 2014, 40: 692-705. DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2014.04.007

Xiao Y, Jin J, Chang M, Chang JH, Hu H, Zhou X, Brittain GC, Stansberg C, Torkildsen Ø, Wang X, Brink R, Cheng X, Sun SC. Peli1 promotes microglia-mediated CNS inflammation by regulating Traf3 degradation. Nature Medicine, 2013, 19: 595-602. DOI: 10.1038/nm.3111

Hu H, Brittain GC, Chang JH, Puebla-Osorio N, Jin J, Zal A, Xiao Y, Cheng X, Chang M, Fu YX, Zal T, Zhu C, Sun SC. OTUD7B controls non-canonical NF-κB activation through deubiquitination of TRAF3. Nature, 2013, 494: 371-374. DOI: 10.1038/nature11831