Yuxing Li

Professor

Yuxing Li Group

Contact

Email: yuxingli@umd.edu

Call: (240) 314-6332

Education

  • Postdoctoral Research, Viral Immunology, Vaccine Research Center, NIAID/NIH, 2008
  • Ph.D., Genetics, Iowa State University, 1996
  • M.S., Microbiology, Sichuan Industrial Institute of Antibiotics, The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), 1992
  • B.S., Genetics, Sichuan University, China, 1989

Profile

Dr. Yuxing Li’s lab studies how B cells, a critical part of the immune system, respond to viral infection, and applies these findings toward antibody discovery and the development of vaccines and therapeutics to treat viral infections.

Dr. Li’s work has focused on defining broadly neutralizing antibody responses elicited by HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins during natural infections and in animal models. These findings contributed substantially to the in-depth understanding of HIV broadly neutralizing antibody response and the subsequent discovery of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies targeting the HIV envelope glycoprotein receptor binding site, and have important implications for vaccine and immunotherapeutics development.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Development of B cell response targeting HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env)

Dr Li’s work is focused on finding novel immunization regimens to better elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies. Dr. Li’s laboratory aims to better understand the mechanism underlying protective immunity and contribute to the development of a broadly effective HIV-1 vaccine.

Antigen-specific multi-color single B cell sorting and monoclonal antibody cloning

The Li lab is using rational design of HIV-1 (Env) immunogens and immunization regimens to analyze B cell and antibody responses with cutting-edge techniques. The Li lab is working to better define the B cell response to experimental HIV-1 vaccines toward discovering novel antibodies and gain insight into viral infection and vaccination.

Development of novel anti-viral immunotherapeutics by structure-based antibody engineering
 

Negative staining EM of the Env trimer: bi-specific scFV complex showing that the bi-specific VRC01/PGT121 scFV cross-links the HIV Env trimer (Nat Commun (2018). 9,877.)

Recently, Dr. Li’s laboratory successfully created a bi-specific antibody that combined functional epitope-binding moieties from two broadly neutralizing antibodies, VRC01 and PGT 121, which simultaneously binds two epitopes within one Env trimer and neutralizes >96% of circulating
HIV-1 isolates. Multi-specific antibodies developed based on this design demonstrated improved antiviral breadth and potency.

In close collaboration with Integrated Biotherapeutics, Inc., the Li lab successfully isolated a broadly neutralizing antibody, CA45, from an Ebola virus vaccine candidate, immunized, non-human primate animal and developed a pan-Ebolavirus therapeutic antibody cocktail for a pre-clinical trial in a non-human primate model. Therapeutic antibodies for Ebola virus infection were only protective against the Zaire Ebola strain but not other related filoviruses. The lab’s research focus is on understanding B cell responses to the filovirus glycoproteins to inform vaccine design to develop a broadly protective antibody response.

 

 

3D EM reconstruction of CA45 Fab (grey) bound to EBOV GPΔMuc structure (light blue, PDB 5JQ3) docked in (Cell (2017). 169, 891-904.e15).
Publications
2023
Dendritic Cell-Mediated Cross-Priming by a Bispecific Neutralizing Antibody Boosts Cytotoxic T Cell Responses and Protects Mice against SARS-CoV-2.
Tracking B cell responses to the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine.
2022
Early human B cell signatures of the primary antibody response to mRNA vaccination.
2021
One dose of COVID-19 nanoparticle vaccine REVC-128 protects against SARS-CoV-2 challenge at two weeks post-immunization.
Pre-vaccination and early B cell signatures predict antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine.
Prominent Neutralizing Antibody Response Targeting the Ebolavirus Glycoprotein Subunit Interface Elicited by Immunization.
2020
De novo protein design enables the precise induction of RSV-neutralizing antibodies.
HIV-1 gp120-CD4-Induced Antibody Complex Elicits CD4 Binding Site-Specific Antibody Response in Mice.
2019
Overexpression of T-bet in HIV infection is associated with accumulation of B cells outside germinal centers and poor affinity maturation.
Antigen-Specific Single B Cell Sorting and Monoclonal Antibody Cloning in Guinea Pigs.
The HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein C3/V4 Region Defines a Prevalent Neutralization Epitope following Immunization.
Post-exposure immunotherapy for two ebolaviruses and Marburg virus in nonhuman primates.
2018
Structural basis for broad neutralization of ebolaviruses by an antibody targeting the glycoprotein fusion loop.
IgG3 regulates tissue-like memory B cells in HIV-infected individuals.
Rational design of a trispecific antibody targeting the HIV-1 Env with elevated anti-viral activity.
2017
HIV-1 Cross-Reactive Primary Virus Neutralizing Antibody Response Elicited by Immunization in Nonhuman Primates.
Immunization-Elicited Broadly Protective Antibody Reveals Ebolavirus Fusion Loop as a Site of Vulnerability.
2016
An HIV-1 Env-Antibody Complex Focuses Antibody Responses to Conserved Neutralizing Epitopes.
Maturational characteristics of HIV-specific antibodies in viremic individuals.
Maintenance of HIV-Specific Memory B-Cell Responses in Elite Controllers Despite Low Viral Burdens.