Biography

10/2023- Professor, TaiKang Medical School and Taikang Center for Life and Medical Sciences,

Wuhan University

09/2017-10/2023 Postdoctoral fellow in Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology,

Stanford University

09/2012-06/2017 Ph.D. major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,

Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

09/2009-06/2012 M.S. major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,

Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

09/2005-06/2009 B.S. major in Biological Engineering,

Beijing University of Chemical Technolog

Research

My research explores the molecular mechanisms of integral membrane transporters that move substances across the cell membrane. By controlling the influx and efflux of ions, amino acid, lipids, and sugars across biological membranes through either passive diffusion (uniport) or active transport (cotransport or exchange) mechanisms, transporters mediate cells’ interactions with and responses to their surroundings and play fundamental roles in cellular metabolism and homeostasis. Moreover, hundreds of transporters have been linked to human diseases (e.g., obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes), making them critical drug targets.

I am interested in describing how transporters selectively recognize substrates, how substrates that are co-transported couple to each other, and how substrate or lipids binding relates to transitions in the transporter’s conformations. I am also curious how chaperone proteins, small molecules, and membrane potential regulate transporter functions, which has profound implications in physiology and medicine. Particularly, I am very interested in metabolite transporters, which play central roles in controlling nutrient availability and cellular metabolisms. They are essential for regulating many important physiological processes and are implicated in numerous diseases.

Representative  Publications

1. Xue Guo^#, Jianxiu Zhang^#, Lei Han^#, Juliet Lee, Shoshana C Williams, Allison Forsberg, Yan Xu, Rachel Narehood Austin, Liang Feng. Structure and mechanism of the alkane-oxidizing enzyme AlkB. Nature Communications 14, 2180 (2023)

2. Lei Han^#, Qianhui Qu^#, Deniz Aydin^#, Ouliana Panova, Michael J Robertson, Yan Xu, Ron O Dror, Georgios Skiniotis, Liang Feng. Structure and mechanism of the SGLT family of glucose transporters. Nature 601, 274-279 (2022)

Editorial, Comments & News:

Nature 601, 194-196 (2022) (News & views)

Nature reviews nephrology 18, 137 (2022)

China Science Daily 7916:1 (front page story)

3. Lei Han^#, Yongping Zhu^#, Min Liu^#, Ye Zhou, Guangyuan Lu, Lan Lan, Xianping Wang, Yongfang Zhao, Xuejun C Zhang. Molecular mechanism of substrate recognition and transport by the AtSWEET13 sugar transporter. PNAS 114, 10089-10094 (2017)

4. Xuejun C Zhang, Min Liu, Lei Han. Energy coupling mechanisms of AcrB-like RND transporters. Biophysics reports 3, 73-84. (2017)

5. Ruimin Zhou, Tong Zhu, Lei Han, Mengjie Liu, Mengyuan Xu, Yanli Liu, Dandan Han, Dewen Qiu, Qingqiu Gong, Xinqi Liu. The asparagine-rich protein NRP interacts with the Verticillium effector PevD1 and regulates the subcellular localization of cryptochrome 2. Journal of experimental botany 68, 3427-3440 (2017)

6. Xuejun C Zhang, Lei Han. Uniporter substrate binding and transport: reformulating mechanistic questions. Biophysics reports 2, 45-54 (2016)

7. Xuejun C Zhang, Lei Han. How does a beta-barrel integral membrane protein insert into the membrane? Protein & cell 7, 471-477 (2016)

8. Xuejun C Zhang, Lei Han. How does the chemical potential of the substrate drive a uniporter? Protein science: a publication of the Protein Society 25, 933-937 (2016)

9. Xuejun C Zhang, Lei Han, Yan Zhao. Thermodynamics of ABC transporters. Protein & cell 7, 17-27 (2016)

10. Lei Han, Zheng Liu, Xinqi Liu, Dewen Qiu. Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of the effector protein PevD1 from Verticillium dahliae. Acta crystallographica. Section F, Structural biology and crystallization communications 68, 802-805 (2012)

11. Jing Zhao, Lihua Guo, Hongmei Zeng, Xiufen Yang, Jingjing Yuan, Huaixing Shi, Yehui Xiong, Mingjia Chen, Lei Han, Dewen Qiu. Purification and characterization of a novel antimicrobial peptide from Brevibacillus laterosporus strain A60. Peptides 33, 206-211 (2012)