“Grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to simultaneously witness, create and influence history at Westlake University.”
Biography
Growing up among three different cultures and having lived in Germany, France and China until Highschool graduation, Mingqi completed his entire higher education at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Basel (ETH Zurich, Switzerland). In 2017, Mingqi received his doctoral degree in biotechnology and bioengineering under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Martin Fussenegger. His research focuses on the design of novel medically-relevant cell functions using synthetic biology-inspired engineering principles. After spending another two years as a research associate and eventually contributing to a total of 16 academic publications at the ETH Zurich, Mingqi joined Westlake University in August 2019 as an assistant professor (independent PI), where he currently leads the Laboratory of Biosystems Engineering in the School of Life Sciences.
Research
Research in Xie’s lab is committed to the tailor-design of improved therapeutic strategies for diagnosis and treatment of complicated diseases using principles of cell engineering and personalized medicine. Interdisciplinary collaborations with various academic and clinical fields, such as material sciences, protein design or basic medical research, are strongly fostered. Current research directions include:
1) Development and characterization of novel molecular tools for cell engineering
2) Engineering of clinically applicable primary cells for cell-based therapies
3) Creation of gene circuits-based solutions for high-precision targeting of cancer
4) Establishment of high-throughput and resource-efficient drug discovery strategies to identify bioactive natural compounds
Disciplines: Molecular Biology (Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology); Basic Medical Sciences (Molecular Medicine, Immunology, Biomedical Engineering, Medical Technology)
Representative Publications
1: co-first author
1. Bai, P., Liu, Y., Xue, S., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Saxena, P., Ye, H., Xie, M., and Fussenegger, M. A fully human transgene switch to regulate therapeutic protein production by cooling sensation. Nature Medicine (2019) 25, 1266-1273.
2. Xie, M. and Fussenegger, M. Designing cell function: assembly of synthetic gene circuits for cell-biology applications. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2018) 19, 507-525.
3. Liu, Y., Bai, P., Woischnig, A., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Ye, H., Folcher, M., Xie, M., Khanna, N. and Fussenegger, M. Immunomimetic designer cells protect mice from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. Cell (2018) 174, 1-12.
4. Bojar, D., Scheller, L., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Xie, M. and Fussenegger, M. Caffeine-inducible gene switches controlling experimental diabetes. Nature Communications (2018) 9:2318.
5. Wang, H., Xie, M., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Ye, H. and Fussenegger, M. Treatment of chronic pain by designer cells controlled by spearmint aromatherapy. Nature Biomedical Engineering (2018) 2, 114–123.
6. Xie, M., Aubel, D. and Fussenegger, M. Closed-Loop Control Systems – the Quest for Precision Medicines for Diabetes. Current Opinion in Systems Biology (2017) 5, 32-40.
7. Shao, J., Xue, S., Yu, G., Yu, Y., Yang, X., Bai, Y., Zhu, S., Yang, L., Yin, J., Wang, Y., Liao, S., Guo, S., Xie, M., Fussenegger, M. and Ye, H. Smartphone-controlled optogenetically engineered cells enable semi-automatic glucose homeostasis in diabetic mice. Science Translational Medicine (2017) 9, eaal2298.
8. Xue, S., Yin, J., Shao, J., Yu, Y., Yang, L., Wang, Y., Xie, M., Fussenegger, M. and Ye, H. A Synthetic-Biology-Inspired Therapeutic Strategy for Targeting and Treating Hepatogenous Diabetes. Molecular Therapy (2017) 25, 2.
9. Ye, H.1, Xie, M.1, Xue, S., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Yin, J., Zulewski, H. and Fussenegger, M. Self-adjusting synthetic gene circuit for correcting insulin resistance. Nature Biomedical Engineering (2017) 1, 5.
10. Xie, M., Ye, H., Wang, H., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Lormeau, C., Saxena, P., Stelling, J. and Fussenegger, M. β-cell-mimetic designer cells provide closed-loop glycemic control. Science (2016) 354, 1296-1301.
11. Xie, M., Haellman, V. and Fussenegger, M. Synthetic biology - application-oriented cell engineering. Current Opinion in Biotechnology (2016) 40, 139-148.
12. Bai, P., Ye, H., Xie, M., Saxena, P., Zulewski, H., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Djonov, V. and Fussenegger, M. A synthetic biology-based device prevents liver injury in mice. Journal of Hepatology (2016) 65, 84-94.
13. Xie, M. and Fussenegger, M. Mammalian designer cells: Engineering principles and biomedical applications. Biotechnology Journal (2015) 10, 1005-1018.
14. Wang, H., Ye, H., Xie, M., Daoud El-Baba, M. and Fussenegger, M. Cosmetics-triggered percutaneous remote control of transgene expression in mice. Nucleic acids research (2015) 43, e91.
15. Xie, M., Ye, H., Charpin El-Hamri, G. and Fussenegger, M. Antagonistic control of a dual-input mammalian gene switch by food additives. Nucleic acids research (2014) 42, e116.
16. Folcher, M.1, Xie, M.1, Spinnler, A. and Fussenegger, M. Synthetic mammalian trigger-controlled bipartite transcription factors. Nucleic acids research (2013) 41, e134.
17. Krawczyk, K., Xue, S., Buchmann, P., Charpin-El Hamri, G., Saxena, P., Hussherr, M.-D., Shao, J., Ye, H., Xie, M., and Fussenegger, M. Electrogenetic cellular insulin release for real-time glycemic control in type 1 diabetic mice. Science (2020) 368, 993–1001.
18. Meyer, C., Liu, J., Craciun, I., Wu, D., Wang, H., Xie, M., Fussenegger, M., and Palivan, C. Segregated Nanocompartments Containing Therapeutic Enzymes and Imaging Compounds Within DNA-Zipped Polymersome Clusters for Advanced Nanotheranostic Platform. Small (2020), 1906492.
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