Dr.  Lu received his bachelor’s degree in Biological Science in 2009, from University  of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Then he pursued his doctoral degree  in Prof. Yigong Shi’s lab at Tsinghua University until 2014. In 2015, he joined  Prof. David Baker’s lab at University of Washington for postdoctoral training. With his Ph.D. research focused on the structural  and biochemical studies of transmembrane proteins, Dr. Lu accurately designed  several multipass transmembrane proteins, as a postdoc, paving the way for the  design of multispan membrane proteins with new functions. He has published 14  research papers in journals including Science, Nature, PNAS and Cell Research.   

Lu lab  will mainly focus on computationally design of new generations of functional  multipass transmembrane proteins, and design of small proteins targeting  disease-related membrane proteins. His group proposes to overcome several key  challenges. (i) Use computational protein design methods to develop new  generation of transmembrane nanopores and design ion channels with specific  selectivity, from scratch. (ii) Extend effort to design transmembrane proteins  with cavities that could bind small molecules. One example is to design  receptors that could oligomerize and signal upon ligand binding. (iii) Combine  computational design effort with massively parallel gene synthesis followed by  high-throughput screen to make de novo designed binders for disease-related  membrane proteins. Seamless interaction of computational protein design,  high-throughput screening, channel activity studies, ligand binding efficacy  studies, membrane protein expression and structure determination in Lu lab will  provide insights into principles of transmembrane protein design.

1. Lu  P,  Min D, DiMaio F, Wei KY, Vahey MD, Boyken SE, Chen Z, Fallas JA, Ueda G,  Sheffler W, Mulligan VK, Xu W, Bowie JU, Baker D. Accurate computational design  of multipass transmembrane proteins. Science.  2018; 359(6379):1042-1046.

2. Chen  Z, Boyken SE, Jia M, Busch F, Flores-Solis D, Bick MJ, Lu  P,  VanAernum ZL, Sahasrabuddhe A, Langan RA, Bermeo S, Brunette TJ, Mulligan VK,  Carter LP, DiMaio F, Sgourakis NG, Wysocki VH, Baker D. Programmable design of  orthogonal protein heterodimers. Nature.  2018 Dec 19. 

3. Ma  D, Wang Z, Merrikh CN, Lang KS, Lu  P, Li X, Merrikh H, Rao Z, Xu W. Crystal structure of a  membrane-bound O-acyltransferase. Nature.  2018 Oct;562(7726):286-290. 

4. Jiang  D, Gamal El-Din TM, Ing C, Lu  P,  Pomès R, Zheng N, Catterall WA. Structural basis for gating pore current in  periodic paralysis.  Nature.  2018 May;557(7706):590-594.  

5. Bai  X*, Yan C*, Yang G*, Lu  P,  Ma D, Sun L, Zhou R, Sheres S, Shi Y. An atomic structure of human  γ-secretase. Nature.  2015; 525(7568):212-217.

6. Lu  P*,  Ma D*, Yan C, Gong X, Du M, Shi Y. Structure and mechanism of a eukaryotic  transmembrane ascorbate-dependent oxidoreductase. PNAS 2014;  111(5):1813-8.

7. Lu  P*,  Bai X*, Ma D*, Xie T, Yan C, Sun L, Yang G, Zhao Y, Zhou R, Sheres S, Shi Y.  Three-dimensional structure of human γ-secretase. Nature.  2014; 512(7513):166-70.

8. Xie  T*, Yan C*, Zhou R, Zhao Y, Sun L, Yang G, Lu  P,  Ma D, Shi Y. Crystal structure of the γ-secretase component  nicastrin. PNAS 2014  Sep 16;111(37):13349-54.

9. Lu  P*,  Ma D*, Chen Y, Guo Y, Chen GQ, Deng H, Shi Y. L-glutamine provides acid  resistance for Escherichia coli through enzymatic release of  ammonia. Cell  Res.  2013; 23(5):635-44.

10. Ma  D*, Lu  P*,  Shi Y. Substrate selectivity of the acid-activated glutamate/γ-aminobutyric acid  (GABA) antiporter GadC from Escherichia coli. J  Biol Chem.  2013; 288 (21):15148-53.

11. Lu  P*,  Lu G*, Yan C, Wang L, Li W, Yin P. Structure of the mRNA splicing complex  component Cwc2: insights into RNA recognition. Biochem  J.  2012; 441(2):591-7.

12. Ma  D, Lu  P,  Yan C, Fan C, Yin P, Wang J, Shi Y. Structure and mechanism of a glutamate-GABA  antiporter. Nature.  2012; 483(7391):632-6.

13. Huang  W*, Choi W*, Hu W, Mi N, Guo Q, Ma M, Liu M, Tian Y, Lu  P,  Wang FL, Deng H, Liu L, Gao N, Yu L, Shi Y. Crystal structure and biochemical  analyses reveal Beclin 1 as a novel membrane binding protein. Cell  Res.  2012; 22(3):473-89.

14. Wang  Y*, Huang Y*, Wang J, Cheng C, Huang W, Lu  P,  Xu YN, Wang P, Yan N, Shi Y. Structure of the formate transporter FocA reveals a  pentameric aquaporin-like channel. Nature.  2009; 462(7272):467-72.

*equal  contribution.