CIMR-Fangwei Leng

Research Group

Fangwei Leng

fangwei.leng(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Assistant Investigator

Tregs, Transcriptional Regulation, Autoimmune Disease,

Cancer Immunotherapy, Microsatellite Instability (MSI)

fangwei.leng(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

B.S. in Biotechnology, Wu Yuzhang Honors College, Sichuan University, China

Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Work Experience

2025.5-Present

Assistant Investigator, Chinese Institute for Immunology, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China

2023.9-2025.5

Instructor, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, USA

2016.7-2023.9

Postdoc Researcher, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA

Honors and Awards

2025

Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas)

Research Interests

The Leng Laboratory at CIMR aims to investigate the development and function of regulatory T cells (Tregs) from multiple perspectives, including protein interactomes, transcriptional regulatory networks, and epigenetic modifications, with the goal of translating these mechanistic insights into therapeutic applications. Major research directions: 1. Investigating protein interactions and gene regulatory networks in Tregs. 2. Developing small molecules, peptides and nanobodies to modulate Treg function. 3. Exploring the role of microsatellites in gene regulation and genetic disorders.

Major Contributions

1. Uncovering the critical role of FoxP3 head-to-head dimerization in Treg function (Immunity, 2022).

2. Discovering that FoxP3 recognizes and multimerizes on TnG repeat microsatellites, revealing a novel DNA-bridging mechanism (Nature, 2023).

3. Revealing the role of versatile FoxP3 ensembles in three-dimensional genomic architecture (Molecular Cell, 2025).

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

Leng F^#, Huoh Y^#, Hur S^#. Multimerizing Transcription Factors FoxP3 and Aire as Chromatin Architectural Regulators. Nature Immunology. 2026, 27: 900-911. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-026-02483-w

Leng F*, Clark R*, Zhang W, Viennet T, Wang C, Arthanari H, Wang X, Hur S. FoxP3 forms a head-to-head dimer in vivo and stabilizes its multimerization on adjacent microsatellites. Cell reports. 2025, 44: 116633. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116633

Leng F*, Merino-Urteaga R*, Wang X, Zhang W, Ha T, Hur S. Ultrastable and versatile multimeric ensembles of FoxP3 on microsatellites. Molecular Cell, 2025, 85: 1509-1524.e7. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2025.03.005

Zhang W*, Leng F*, Wang X, Ramirez R, Park J, Benoist C, Hur S. FoxP3 recognizes microsatellites and bridges DNA through multimerization. Nature, 2023, 624: 433-441. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06793-z (Previewed in Nature, 2023, 624: 255-256)

Leng F*, Zhang W*, Ramirez RN, Leon J, Zhong Y, Hou L, Yuki K, van der Veeken J, Rudensky AY, Benoist C, Hur S. The transcription factor FoxP3 can fold into two dimerization states with divergent implications for regulatory T cell function and immune homeostasis. Immunity, 2022, 55: 1354-1369.e8. DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2022.07.002 (Cover article; Previewed in Immunity, 2022, 55: 1329-1331)

Full List of Publications Can Be Found Here