Shanghai Institute of Material Medical Chinese Academy of Sciences

Biography

Dr. Luo comprehensively applied theoretical methods including computational biology, bioinformatics, and drug design, combined with various chemical biology validation platforms, to discovery innovative drugs that target novel targets, mainly aimed at epigenetic enzymes and protein-protein interactions, or innovative drugs with novel mechanisms, and also investigate the mechanisms of these drugs. With these strategies, the regulatory mechanism of several important targets were revealed, and a bunch of lead compounds with development prospect were discovered (5 categories for the first time in the world), and two compounds are under clinical trials. More than 120 SCI papers were published, with a total impact factors above 770, more than 2400 citations by others, and the H-index is 25. In the past five years, breakthroughs were published on Nature, Nature Chem, JACS, PNAS, Adv Mater, Nucleic Acids Res, J Med Chem and other famous international journals as corresponding, co-corresponding or first author. 19 patent applications (2 PCT) have been submitted, and 3 domestic and 1 U.S patent applications were granted with a license. 18 graduate students graduated from his lab, and CAS Dean Excellence Award was conferred once, Excellent Graduation Thesis of Shanghai was conferred once, National Award for Graduates was conferred 10 times.

EDUCATION
09/1990-07/1994 Fuzhou University, Department of Chemistry, Bachelor Degree for Structural Chemistry
09/1998-07/2001 Fudan University, Department of Chemistry, Master Degree for Physical Chemistry
09/2001-07/2004 Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Ph.D Degree for Organic Chemistry

WORK EXPERIENCE
10/1994-05/1998 Assistant Engineer, Fuzhou Antibiotic Co. Ltd.
07/2004-09/2005 Assistant Professor, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Drug Design
09/2005-03/2008 Postdoctoral Fellow, Ronen Marmorstein Lab, Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Epigenetics and Chemical Biology
03/2008-10/2008 Assistant Professor, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Drug Design and Chemical Biology
10/2008-10/2012 Associate Professor, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Drug Design and Chemical Biology
10/2012-Present Professor, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Drug Design and Chemical Biology

Research Directions

Dr. Luo's laboratory is mainly focused on drug design and medicinal chemical biology, guided by the theoretical methods including target identification, computer-aided drug design, molecular dynamics simulation, bioinformatics, and combined with multidisciplinary technologies including biochemistry, structural biology and medicinal chemical biology, to discover innovative drugs that target novel epigenetic enzymes and important protein-protein interactions, and also investigate the novel mechanism of these innovative drugs.

Grants & Research Projects

1. Discovery and optimization of novel chemical entities targeting major diseases, 863 project from ministry of science and technology, Project Leader, 2012-2015.
2. Drug discovery and chemical intervention research targeting DNMT1, NSFC general project, 2015-2018.
3. Dynamics behavior, target identification and uncontrolled inflammatory transformation mechanism research, targeting the network nodes of S1P metabolic pathway and NF-κB signaling pathway, NSFC major project, 2011-2013.
4. Optimization of the anti-tumor lead compounds that target the V600E mutant B-Raf kinase, NSFC general project, 2010-2012.

Achievements

1. Establishment of various screening platforms and validation technologies for medicinal chemical bioassays, including drug design, quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics simulation and bioinformatics, combined with the validation of multidisciplinary technologies, discovered about 20 categories of lead compounds for important targets (5 categories for the first time in the world); discovered compounds with promising clinical potentials, some of them were transferred to pharmaceutical companies for further development.

2. Guided by computational biology simulation and bioinformatics, to carry out the research with chemical biology, structural biology and pharmacological bioassay validation, revealed the relationship between dynamic regulation and functions for several important target proteins, facilitated basis for the discovery of regulatory agents.

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Social Titles

Bioinformatics Association, Pharmacology Information Branch, Committee Member

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Awards & Honors

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Pubilcations

Full Publication List

Selected Publications

1.Lulu Hu#, Junyan Lu#, Jingdong Cheng#, Qinhui Rao, Ze Li, Haifeng Hou, Zhiyong Lou, Lei Zhang, Wei Li, Wei Gong, Mengjie Liu, Chang Sun, Xiaotong Yin, Jie Li, Xiangshi Tan, Pengcheng Wang, Yinsheng Wang, Dong Fang, Qiang Cui, Pengyuan Yang, Chuan He, Hualiang Jiang, Cheng Luo* and Yanhui Xu*, Structural Insight into Substrate Preference for TET-mediated Oxidation. Nature 2015;527(7576):118-22.

2.Jing Wang#, Cheng Luo#（co-first）, Changliang Shan#, Qiancheng You#, Junyan Lu Shannon Elf, Yu Zhou, Yi Wen, Yuxin Xie, Jan L Vinkenborg, Jun Fan, Heebum Kang, Dali Han, Jason Karpus, Shijie Chen, Shisheng Ouyang, Chihao Luan, Naixia Zhang, Maarten Merkx, Hong Liu, Jing Chen*, Hualiang Jiang*, Chuan He*, Inhibition of human copper trafficking significantly attenuates tumor growth. Nature Chem 2015; 7(12):968-79.

3.Junyan Lu, Chenxiao Jianga, Xiaojing Lia, Lizhi Jiang, Zengxia Li, Tilman Schneider-Poetsch, Kunqian Yu, Jun O. Liu, Hualiang Jiang, Cheng Luo*, Yongjun Dang*. The Inter-domain Linker of eIF4AI Regulates ATP Hydrolysis Coupled Duplex Unwinding, Nucleic Acids Res 2015;. pii: gkv1033.

4.Fanwang Meng, Sufang Cheng, Hong Ding, Shien Liu, Ying Liu, Kongkai Zhu, Shijie Chen, Junyan Lu, Yiqian Xie, Linjuan Li, Rongfeng Liu, Zhe Shi, Yu Zhou, Yu-Chih Liu, Mingyue Zheng, Hualiang Jiang, Wencong Lu*, Hong Liu*, and Cheng Luo*. Discovery and optimization of novel, selective histone methyltransferase SET7 inhibitors by pharmacophore- and docking-based virtual screening. J Med Chem, 2015; 58(20):8166-81.

5.Xiangqian Kong, Jian Liu, Lianchun Li, Liyan Yue, Lihong Zhang, Hualiang Jiang, Xin Xie*, Cheng Luo*, Functional Interplay Between the RK motif and Linker Segment Dictates Oct4-DNA Recognition, Nucleic Acids Res 2015;43(9):4381-92.

6.Yue Huang, Jingli Yan, Qi Li, Jiafei Li, Shouzhe Gong, Hu Zhou, Jianhua Gan, Hualiang Jiang, Gui-Fang Jia*, Cheng Luo*, and Cai-Guang Yang* Meclofenamic acid selectively inhibits FTO demethylation of m6A over ALKBH5. Nucleic Acid Res 2015; 43(1):373-84.

7.Xiangqian Kong, Limin Chen, Lianying Jiao, Xiangrui Jiang, Fulin Lian, Junyan Lu, Kongkai Zhu, Daohai Du, Jingqiu Liu, Hong Ding, Naixia Zhang, Jingshan Shen, Mingyue Zheng, Kaixian Chen, Xin Liu, Hualiang Jiang and Cheng Luo*. Astemizole Arrests the Proliferation of Cancer Cells by Disrupting the EZH2-EED Interaction of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2. J Med Chem, 2014; 57:9512-21.

8.Shijie Chen, Yulan Wang, Wen Zhou, Shanshan Li, Jianlong Peng, Zhe Shi, Junchi Hu, Yu-Chih Liu, Hong Ding, Yijyun Lin, Linjuan Li, Sufang Cheng, Jingqiu Liu, Tao Lu, Hualiang Jiang, Bo Liu*, Mingyue Zheng* and Cheng Luo*. Identifying Novel Selective Non-Nucleoside DNA Methyltransferase 1 Inhibitors through Docking-Based Virtual Screening. J Med Chem, 2014;57,9028-41.

9.Jie Zhang, Hongchuan Liu, Kongkai Zhu, Shouzhe Gong, Shaynoor Dramsi, Ya-Ting Wang, Jiafei Li, Feifei Chen, Ruihan Zhang, Lu Zhou, Lefu Lan, Hualiang Jiang, Olaf Schneewind*, Cheng Luo*, Cai-Guang Yang*. Antiinfective therapy with a small molecule inhibitor of Staphylococcus aureus sortase. P Natl Acad Sci 2014;111(37):13517-22.

10.Yifan Jiang, Junyan Lu, Yaping Wang, Feng Zeng, Huiyuan Wang, Huige Peng, Min Huang, Hualiang Jiang, Cheng Luo* and Yongzhuo Huang*. Molecular Dynamic Simulation-driven Design of Protease-responsive Probe for in vivo Tumor Imaging. Adv Mater 2014;26(48):8174-8.

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