Academic Experience

2012-present, Professor, Principal Investigator, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, CAS;

2003-2012, Postdoctoral fellow and research fellow, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, US;

Education

1999-2003, Ph.D., Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, CAS;

1992-1999, B.Sc. and M.S. Nanchang University.

Awards and Honors

2020  National Outstanding Young Scientists Award, NSFC.

2020  ZHULI Yuehua Outstanding Teacher Award, CAS.

2010  Performance Prize, NIH. 

Both eukaryotic and prokaryotic pathogens infect the host stably via an immune evasion mechanism termed mutually exclusive expression. Nowadays, little is known about these epigenetic mechanisms which limits the understanding of the pathogenesis of many bacterial, fungal, and protozoan pathogens and the development of novel drugs and vaccines. Our lab aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and biological consequences of epigenetic and genetic factors (histone modifications, DNA/RNA methylation, lncRNA, transcription factors, etc.) of pathogen and host interaction in major infectious diseases caused by HIV, TB, and Malaria parasites et.al, the long-term view toward the design of novel drugs, vaccines, and diagnosis.

Selected publications

1. Cao, X., Wen, Y., Li, Y., Ma, X., Jing, Q., Jiang, L.*, and Wei, G*. (2023) PfSET2 Is Involved in Genome Organization of Var Gene Family in Plasmodium falciparum. Microbiol Spectr., e0389122

2. Wang, M., Tang, T., Li, R., Huang, Z., Ling, D., Zheng, L., Ding, Y., Liu, T., Xu, W., Zhu, F., Min, H., Boonhok, R., Mao, F., Zhu, J., Li, X.*, Jiang, L.*, and Li, J*. (2022) Drug Repurposing of Quisinostat to Discover Novel Plasmodium falciparum HDAC1 Inhibitors with Enhanced Triple-Stage Antimalarial Activity and Improved Safety. J Med Chem 65, 4156-4181

3. Yang, Y., Tang, T., Li, X., Michel, T., Ling, L., Huang, Z., Mulaka, M., Wu, Y., Gao, H., Wang, L., Zhou, J., Meunier, B., Ke, H., Jiang, L.*, and Rao, Y*. (2021) Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of multiple targeting antimalarials. Acta Pharm Sin B 11, 2900-2913

4. Wang, W., Wang, Z., Yang, X., Gao, Y., Zhang, X., Cao, L., Dai, A., Sun, J., Sun, L., Jiang, L.*, Chen, Z.*, and Wang, L.* (2021) The molecular mechanism of cytoadherence to placental or tumor cells through VAR2CSA from Plasmodium falciparum. Cell Discov 7, 94

5. Li R, Ling D, Tang T, Huang Z, Wang M, Ding Y, Liu T, Wei H, Xu W, Mao F, Zhu J, Li X*, Jiang L*, Li J*. Discovery of Novel Plasmodium falciparum HDAC1 Inhibitors with Dual-Stage Antimalarial Potency and Improved Safety Based on the Clinical Anticancer Drug Candidate Quisinostat. J. Med. Chem. 2021 Feb 25;64(4):2254-2271.

6. Huang Z#, Li R#, Tang T#, Ling D#, Wang M#, Xu D, Maoxin Sun, Zheng L, Zhu F, Min H, Boonhok R, Ding Y, Wen Y, Chen Y, Li X, Chen Y, Liu T, Han J, Miao J, Fang Q, Cao Y, Tang Y, Cui J, Xu W, Cui L, Zhu J, Wong G, Li J, Jiang L*. A novel multistage antiplasmodial inhibitor targeting Plasmodium falciparum histone deacetylase 1. Cell Discov. 2020 Dec 11;6(1):93.

7. Zhou J, Huang Z, Zheng L, Hei Z, Wang Z, Yu B, Jiang L*, Wang J*, Fang P*. Inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum Lysyl-tRNA synthetase via an anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Nov 18;48(20):11566-11576.

8. Liang X#, Jiang Z#, Huang Z#, Li F#, Chen C, Hu C, Wang W, Hu Z, Liu Q, Wang B, Wang L, Qi Z, Liu J*, Jiang L*, Liu Q*. Discovery of 6'-chloro-N-methyl-5'- (phenylsulfonamido)-[3,3'-bipyridine]-5-carboxamide (CHMFL-PI4K-127) as a novel Plasmodium falciparum PI(4)K inhibitor with potent antimalarial activity against both blood and liver stages of Plasmodium. Eur J Med Chem. 2020;188:112012.

9. Yin S#*, Fan Y#, He X, Wei G, Wen Y, Zhao Y, Shi M, Wei J, Chen H, Han J, Jiang L*, Zhang Q*. The cryptic unstable transcripts are associated with developmentally regulated gene expression in blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum. RNA Biol. 2020:1-15.

10. Yuan J#, Chang SY#, Yin SG#, Liu ZY#, Cheng X#, Liu XJ, Jiang Q, Gao G, Lin DY, Kang XL, Ye SW, Chen Z, Yin JA, Hao P, Jiang L*, Cai SQ*. Two conserved epigenetic regulators prevent healthy ageing. Nature. 2020;579(7797):118-22.

11. Xiao B#, Yin S, Hu Y, Sun M, Wei J, Huang Z, Wen Y, Dai X, Chen H, Mu J, Cui L, Jiang L*. Epigenetic editing by CRISPR/dCas9 in Plasmodium falciparum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(1):255-60.

12. Li Z#, Yin S#, Sun M#, Cheng X#, Wei J, Gilbert N, Miao J, Cui L, Huang Z*, Dai X*, Jiang L*. DNA helicase RecQ1 regulates mutually exclusive expression of virulence genes in Plasmodium falciparum via heterochromatin alteration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(8):3177-82. 

13. Yang Y #, Yu Y#, Li X#, Li J, Wu Y, Yu J, Ge J, Huang Z, Jiang L*, Rao Y*, Yang M*. Target Elucidation by Cocrystal Structures of NADH-Ubiquinone Oxidoreductase of Plasmodium falciparum (PfNDH2) with Small Molecule to Eliminate Drug-Resistant Malaria. J Med Chem. 2017, 60(5), 1994–2005. 

14. Jiang L*, Mu J, Zhang Q, Ni T, Srinivasan P, Rayavara K, Yang W, Turner L, Lavstsen T, Theander TG, Peng W, Wei G, Jing Q, Wakabayashi Y, Bansal A, Luo Y, Ribeiro J MC, Scherf A, Aravind L, Zhu J, Zhao K & Miller LH*. PfSET2vs methylation of histone H3K36 represses virulence genes in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature. 499, 223-227 (2013) .

15. Jiang L*, Gaur D, Mu J, Zhou H, Long CA & Miller LH*. Evidence for erythrocyte-binding antigen 175 as a component of a ligand-blocking blood-stage malaria vaccine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 108, 7553-7358 (2011).

16. Jiang L*, López-Barragán MJ, Jiang H, Mu J, Gaur D, Zhao K, Felsenfeld G & Miller LH*. Epigenetic control of the variable expression of a Plasmodium falciparum receptor protein for erythrocyte invasion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 107, 2224-2229 (2010).