After graduating from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry in 2000, Dr. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. While there, he studied the mechanism of steroid hormone receptor-regulated gene expression, specifically the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). In 2008, Dr. He was recruited to Van Andel Research Institute to work on drug discovery for the glucocorticoid receptor and structural basis of G-coupled protein receptors (GPCRs) signaling. In 2014, Dr. He became a research assistant professor at Van Andel Research Institute. During this period, Dr. He discovered a crosstalk between lysosomal pathway and glucocorticoid signaling, designed and developed novel glucocorticoids for asthma treatment, made major contribution to the rhodopsin/arrestin complex structure, and identified key mechanism for rhodopsin/GRK1 engagement. Dr. He joins the School of Life Sciences and Technology of the Harbin Institute of Technology in November 2017.

Research Interests

      Dr. He’s research interests are hormone receptor signaling and the related translational studies, focusing on steroid hormone receptors (i.e. the glucocorticoid receptor, GR) and the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). The overall research goal of Dr. He is to use cutting edge structural biology tools, including the emerging cryo-electron microscopy (EM), to explore the molecular detail, including those at the atomic level, of receptor signaling and use it to design precision medicines that specifically deliver the desired treatment effects, but not the unwanted side effects, to patients.

Techniques and Tools in the Lab

     Protein expression and purification, protein crystallization, structure determination,Cryo-EM, small molecule design, animal model of inflammatory diseases, molecular biology and cellular biology techniques

Selected Publications

       Dr. He has published more than 20 peer review papers, including Cell, Nature, Science, Cell Research, PNAS, Genes & Development, Science Signaling. Below is selected publication of Dr. He.

1. Zhou XE*,He Y*, de Waal PW*, Gao X*, Van Eps N, Yin Y, Pal K, Goswami D, White TA, Barty A, Latorraca NR, Chapman HN, Hubbell WL, Dror RO, Stevens RC, Cherezov V, Gurevich VV, Griffin PR, Ernst OP, Melcher K, Xu HE. Identification of Phosphorylation Codes for Arrestin Recruitment by G Protein-Coupled Receptors.Cell, 2017 Jul 27;170(3):457-469.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.07.002. *, contribute equally, co-first author. Cover article of Cell v170.

2. He Y#, Gao X, Goswami D， Hou L, Pal K, Yin Y, Zhao G, Ernst O.P, Griffin P, Melcher K, Xu HE#. Molecular Assembly of Rhodopsin with G-Protein Coupled Receptor Kinases.Cell Res. 2017 Jun;27(6):728-747. doi: 10.1038/cr.2017.72. #, corresponding author.

3. Yin Y, de Waal PW,He Y, Zhao LH, Yang D, Cai X, Jiang Y, Melcher K, Wang MW, Xu HE. Rearrangement of a polar core provides a conserved mechanism for constitutive activation of class B G protein-coupled receptors.J Biol Chem. 2017; 292(24):9865-9881.

4. Ma H, Duan J, Ke J,He Y, Gu X, Xu TH, Yu H, Wang Y, Brunzelle JS, Jiang Y, Rothbart SB, Xu HE, Li J, Melcher K. A D53 repression motif induces oligomerization of TOPLESS corepressors and promotes assembly of a corepressor-nucleosome complex.Science advances. 2017; 3(6):e1601217.

5. Kang Y*, Zhou XE*, Gao X*,He Y*, Liu W, Ishchenko A, …Stevens RC, Cherezov V, Melcher K, Xu HE. Crystal structure of rhodopsin bound to arrestin determined by femtosecond X-ray laser.Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):561-7. *, contribute equally, co-first author.

6. He Y#, Shi J, Yi W, Ren X, Gao X, Li J, Wu N, Weaver K, Xie Q, Khoo SK, Yang T, Huang X, Melcher K and Xu HE#. Discovery of a highly potent glucocorticoid for asthma treatment.Cell Disc 2015, 1. pii: 15035. #, corresponding author.

7. Zhi X, Zhou XE,He Y, Searose-Xu K, Zhang CL, Tsai CC, Melcher K, Xu HE. Structural basis for corepressor assembly by the orphan nuclear receptor TLX.Genes Dev. 2015 Feb 15;29(4):440-50.

8. He Y#, Yi W, Suino-Powell K, Zhou XE, Tolbert WD, Tang X, Yang J, Yang H, Shi J, Hou L, Jiang H, Melcher K, Xu HE#. Structures and mechanism for the design of highly potent glucocorticoids.Cell Res. 2014 Jun;24(6):713-26. #, corresponding author.

9. Zhi X, Zhou XE,He Y, Zechner C, Suino-Powell KM, Kliewer SA, Melcher K, Mangelsdorf DJ, Xu HE. Structural insights into gene repression by the orphan nuclear receptor SHP.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jan 14;111(2):839-44.

10. Jiang L, Liu X, Xiong G, Liu H, Chen F, Wang L,He Y. et al. DWARF 53 acts as a repressor of strigolactone signaling in rice.Nature, 2013, 504: 401-405.

11. Soon FF, Ng LM, Zhou XE, West GM, Kovach A, Tan MHE, Suino-Power KM,He Y, Xu Y, .Mecher K, Xu HE. Molecular mimicry regulates ABA signaling by SnRK2 kinases and PP2C phosphatases.Science. 2012 Jan 6;335(6064):85-8.

12. He Y#, Xu Y, Zhang C, Gao X, Dykema KJ, Martin KR, Ke J, Hudson EA, Khoo SK, Resau JH, Alberts AS, MacKeigan JP, Furge KA, Xu HE#. Identification of a lysosomal pathway that modulates glucocorticoid signaling and the inflammatory response.Sci Signal. 2011 Jul 5;4(180):ra44. Cover article. #, corresponding author.

      

Dr. He’s complete list of publications:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1pIU20J-oyuAY/bibliography/47447705/public/?sort=date&direction=descending