Biography

Professor: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences，Wuhan University, 2022-

Postdoc: Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, 2018-2022

Ph. D.: School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, 2013-2018

B. S.: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, 2009-2013

Research

I am mainly engaged in research on protein synthesis and chemical biology, as well as the biochemical mechanisms of membrane proteins. I have a comprehensive understanding of protein synthesis chemistry, chemical biology, molecular biology, membrane protein science, and pharmacy. My main academic achievements include the establishment of new methods for the chemical synthesis of targeted ion channel toxin proteins and precision post-translational modification proteins. I have also analyzed the molecular mechanisms of peptides and small molecule drugs targeting membrane proteins (ion channels, transport proteins), as well as studied the biochemical functions and mechanisms of protein post-translational modifications.

Research directions of my research group:

1. Research on the functional mechanisms of disease-related membrane proteins (such as ion channels and transport proteins).

2. Chemical biology research on post-translational modifications of membrane proteins.

3. Targeting important membrane proteins for peptide or small molecule drug development.

Representative  Publications

1. Shuai Gao^*#, Xia Yao^#, Jiaofeng Chen^#, Gaoxingyu Huang, Xiao Fan, Lingfeng Xue, Zhangqiang Li, Tong Wu, Yupeng Zheng, Jian Huang, Xueqin Jin, Yan Wang, Zhifei Wang, Yong Yu, Lei Liu, Xiaojing Pan, Chen Song^*, and Nieng Yan^*. “Structural basis for human Cav1.2 inhibition by multiple drugs and the neurotoxin calciseptine” (Cell)

2. Xia Yao^#, Shuai Gao^#*, Jixin Wang, Zhangqiang Li, Jian Huang, Yan Wang, Zhifei Wang, Jiaofeng Chen, Xiao Fan, Weipeng Wang, Xueqin Jin, Xiaojing Pan, Yong Yu, Armando Lagrutta, and Nieng Yan^*. “Structural basis for the severe adverse interaction of sofosbuvir and amiodarone on L-type Cav channels” (Cell,2022, 185, 4801-4810)

3. Xia Yao, Yan Wang, Zhifei Wang, Xiao Fan, Di Wu, Jian Huang, Alexander Mueller, Sarah Gao, Miaohui Hu, Carol V Robinson, Yong Yu, Shuai Gao^*, Nieng Yan^*. “Structures of the R-type human Cav2.3 channel reveal conformational crosstalk of the intracellular segments” (Nature communications, 2022, 13, 7358)

4. Xia Yao^#, Shuai Gao^#, Nieng Yan^*. “Structural basis for pore blockade of human voltage-gated calcium channel Cav1.3 by motion sickness drug cinnarizine” (Cell Research, 2022)

5. Shuai Gao^#, Xia Yao^#, Nieng Yan^*. “Structure of human Cav2.2 channel blocked by the painkiller ziconotide” (Nature, 2021, 596, 143-147)

6. Shuai Gao^*, Nieng Yan^*. “Structural basis of Cav1.1 modulation by dihydropyridine compounds” (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2020, 60, 3131-3137)

7. Shuai Gao, William C. Valinsky, Nguyen Cam On, Patrick R. Houlihan, Qian Qu, Lei Liu, Xiaojing Pan, David E. Clapham, and Nieng Yan^*. “Employing NaChBac for cryo-EM analysis of toxin action on voltage-gated Na+ channels in nanodisc” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2020, 117, 14187-14193)

8. Yaping Pan^#*, Zhenning Ren^#, Shuai Gao^#*, Jiemin Shen^#, Lie Wang, Zhichun Xu, YeYu, Preetham Bachina, Hanzhi Zhang, Xiao Fan, Arthur Laganowsky, Nieng Yan, Ming Zhou*. “Structural basis of ion transport and inhibition in ferroportin” (Nature communications, 2020, 11, 5896)

9. Qian Qu^#, Shuai Gao^#, Fangming Wu^#, Mengge Zhang, Ying Li, Longhua Zhang, Donald Bierer, Changlin Tian^*, Jishen Zheng^*, Lei Liu^*. “Synthesis of disulfide surrogate peptides incorporating large-span surrogate bridges Through a Native-Chemical-Ligation-Assisted Diaminodiacid Strategy” (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2020, 59, 6037-6045)

10. Chenchen Chen^#, Shuai Gao^#, Huasong Ai, Qian Qu, Changlin Tian^*, and Yiming Li^*.

“Racemic X-ray structure of L-type calcium channel antagonist Calciseptine prepared by total chemical synthesis” (Science China Chemistry 2018, 61, 702-707)

11. Shuai Gao^#, Man Pan^#, Yong Zheng^#, Yichao Huang, Qingyun Zheng, Demeng Sun, Lining Lu, Xiaodan Tan, Xianglong Tan, Huan Lan, Jiaxing Wang, Tian Wang, Jiawei Wang*, and Lei Liu^*. “Monomer/Oligomer Quasi-Racemic Protein Crystallography” (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 14497−14502)

12. Man Pan^#, Shuai Gao^#, Yong Zheng^#, Xiaodan Tan, Huan Lan, Xianglong Tan, Demeng Sun, Lining Lu, Tian Wang, Qingyun Zheng, Yichao Huang, Jiawei Wang, and Lei Liu^*. “Quasi-Racemic X‑ray Structures of K27-Linked Ubiquitin Chains Prepared by Total Chemical Synthesis” (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 7429−7435)