Breadcrumb

null Chen Liang, PhD

Keywords

HIV • COVID-19 • SARS-CoV • innate immunity • interferon • antivirals

Research Focus

My research aims to understand the host innate immune responses to viral infections. My team uses the findings to understand viral pathogenesis and transmission and to guide the development of effective antiviral therapeutics. Specifically, we investigate how host cells produce antiviral interferons in response to infections by HIV or SARS-CoV-2, and how these two highly pathogenic viruses overcome and evade this first line of host defense. We are dedicated to the discovery of new HIV treatments and the compounds that can effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and thus cure COVID-19. My lab has also pioneered the application of the CRISPR gene editing tool in curing HIV infection.

Selected Publications

Click on Pubmed to see my current publications list

  • Siqi Hu, Hong Sun, Lijuan Yin, Jian Li, Shan Mei, Fengwen Xu, Chao Wu, Xiaoman Liu, Fei Zhao, Di Zhang, Yu Huang, Lili Ren, Shan Cen, Jianwei Wang*, Chen Liang, and Fei Guo. 2019. PKR-dependent cytosolic cGAS foci are necessary for intracellular DNA sensing. Science Signaling. 12:pii:easv7934. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.aav7934. PMID: 31772125.

  • Bin Xu, Qinghua Pan and Chen Liang. 2018. Role of MxB in Alpha Interferon-Mediated Inhibition of HIV-1 Infection. Journal of Virology 92: pii: e00422-18. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00422-18. PMID: 29925663.

  • Zhen Wang, Qinghua Pan, Patrick Gendron, Weijun Zhu, Fei Guo, Shan Cen, Mark A Wainberg and Chen Liang. 2016. CRISPR/Cas9-derived mutations both inhibit HIV-1 replication and accelerate viral escape. Cell Reports 15:1-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.03.042. PMID: 27068471.

  • Alex Compton, Timothee Bruel, Francoise Porrot, Adeline Mallet, Martin Sachse, Marine Euvrard, Chen Liang, Nicoletta Casartelli and Olivier Schwartz. 2014. Interferon-induced transmembrane proteins incorporate into HIV-1 virion and impair viral cell-to-cell spread. Cell Host & Microbe 16:736-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2014.11.001. PMID: 25464829.

  • Zhenlong Liu, Qinghua Pan, Shilei Ding, Jin Qian, Fengwen Xu, Jinming Zhou, Shan Cen, Fei Guo and Chen Liang. 2013. The interferon-inducible MxB protein inhibits HIV-1 infection. Cell Host & Microbe 14(4):398-410. DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2013.08.015. PMID: 24055605.