CIMR-Yu Zhang

Research Group

Yu Zhang

zhangyu(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Associate Investigator

zhangyu(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Ph.D. in Genetics, University of Basel, Switzerland

M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Beijing Normal University, China

B.S. in Biochemistry, Beijing Normal University, China

Work Experience

2023-present

Associate Investigator, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China

2019-2022

Assistant Professor, Tsinghua Institute of Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research, Tsinghua University, China

2013-2023

Assistant Investigator, National Institute of Biologic Sciences, China

2005-2012

Research Fellow in immune Disease Institute, the Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, USA

2004-2005

Research Fellow, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Novartis Research Foundation, Basel, Switzerland

Research Direction

The Zhang laboratory at CIMR works on the identification of key molecules in tumor immunology, by genome-wide functional screenings, multi-omics, high-throughput sequencing technology, and bioinformatic analysis. Our ultimate goals are developing new strategies for tumor immunotherapy, and translating basic research into clinical trials.

Major Research Projects

1. Identify new mechanisms and immune checkpoints, and develop targeting approaches in the field of tumor immunology.

2. Identify novel function and regulation of B cells in tumor immunology

3. Develop cell engineering and genome editing strategies to cure human diseases

Major Contributions

1. Identified functions of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) (EMBO J，2003; G & D, 2005; JBC, 2006；MCB, 2008)

2. Dissected mechanisms of chromosome translocation (Cell, 2011; Cell, 2012; Cell, 2013; PNAS, 2016)

3. Identified off-targets and targeting mechanisms of CRISPR/Cas9 (Cell Research, 2014)

4. Developed novel genomic labeling systems with CRISPR/Cas9 (Genome Biology, 2018a; Genome Biology, 2018b; JMCB, 2019)

5. Identified functions of immune cells in human diseases using single-cell RNA-sequencing (Circulation, 2020; Nature Communications, 2021)

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

Hu QT*, Hong Y*, Qi P*, Lu GQ, Mai XY, Xu S, He XY, Guo Y, Gao LL, Jing ZY, Wang JW, Cai T, Zhang Y. Atlas of breast cancer infiltrated B-lymphocytes revealed by paired single-cell RNA-sequencing and antigen receptor profiling. Nature Communications, 2021, 12: 2186. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22300-2

Hua XM, Hu G, Hu QT, Chang Y, Hu YQ, Gao LL, Chen X, Yang PC, Zhang Y^#, Li MY^#, Song JP^#. Single-Cell RNA Sequencing to Dissect the Immunological Network of Autoimmune Myocarditis. Circulation, 2020, 142: 384-400. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.043545

Han DQ, Hong Y, Mai XY, Hu QT, Lu GQ, Duan JZ, Xu JR, Si XF, Zhang Y. Systematical study of the mechanistic factors regulating genome dynamics in vivo by CRISPRsie. Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, 2019, 11: 1018-20. DOI: 10.1093/jmcb/mjz074

Duan JZ*, Lu GQ*, Hong Y*, Hu QT*, Mai XY, Guo J, Si XF, Wang FC, Zhang Y. Live imaging and tracking of genome regions in CRISPR/dCas9 knock-in mice. Genome Biology, 2018, 19: 192. DOI: 10.1186/s13059-018-1530-1

Hong Y, Lu GQ, Duan JZ, Liu WJ, Zhang Y. Comparison and optimization of CRISPR/dCas9/gRNA genome-labeling systems for live cell imaging. Genome Biology, 2018, 19: 39. DOI: 10.1186/s13059-018-1413-5

Lu GQ*, Duan JZ*, Shu S, Wang XX, Gao LL, Guo J, Zhang Y. Ligase I and ligase III mediate the DNA double-strand break ligation in alternative end-joining. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016, 113: 1256-60. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1521597113

Duan JZ*, Lu GQ*, Xie Z, Lou ML, Luo J, Guo L, Zhang Y. Genome-wide identification of CRISPR/Cas9 off-targets in human genome. Cell Research, 2014, 24: 1009-12. DOI: 10.1038/cr.2014.87

Zhang Y*, McCord RP*, Ho YJ, Lajoie BR, Hildebrand DG, Simon AC, Becker MS, Alt FW^#, Dekker J^#. Spatial organization of the mouse genome and its role in recurrent chromosomal translocations. Cell, 2012, 148: 908-21. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.02.002

Chiarle R*, Zhang Y*^#, Frock RL*, Lewis SM*, Molinie B, Ho YJ, Myers DR, Choi VW, Compagno M, Malkin DJ, Neuberg D, Monti S, Giallourakis CC^#, Gostissa M^#, Alt FW^#. Genome-wide translocation sequencing reveals mechanisms of chromosome breaks and rearrangements in B cells. Cell, 2011, 147: 107-19. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.07.049

Alt FW, Zhang Y, Meng FL, Guo CG, Schwer B. Mechanisms of programmed DNA lesions and genomic instability in the immune system. Cell, 2013, 152: 417-29. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.01.007