Xinquan WANG     Ph.D.

Professor

1990 – 1995 / Fudan University / B.S

1995 – 2000 / Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences / P h .D.

2001 – 2003 / Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Research Associate

2003 – 2008 / Stanford University / Postdoctoral Researcher

2008 – 2013 / School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University / Tenure Track Associate Professor

2013 - present / School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University / Tenured Professor

 

Research interest

We investigate cell surface receptor recognition and activation using structural biology approaches. One major research interest in our laboratory is to elucidate the receptor-ligand interactions and activation in the interleukin 1 (IL-1) and other cytokine families that play important roles in host inflammatory response and regulation. We also study macromolecular interactions that mediate the cell entry of highly pathogenic coronaviruses and influenza viruses and host neutralization by potent antibodies.

Selected publications

1. Chen, J., Wang, Y., & Wang, X. (2026). Structures of clinical antibodies bound to IL-33 uncover two distinct epitopes underlying differential efficacy. mAbs, 18(1), 2639673.

2. Lin, Z., Gao, T., & Wang, X. (2026). Structural basis for human DPP4 receptor recognition by MERS-like coronaviruses 2014-422 and GX2012. PLoS pathogens, 22(1), e1013792.

3. Qiao, S., & Wang, X. (2024). Structural determinants of spike infectivity in bat SARS-like coronaviruses RsSHC014 and WIV1. Journal of virology, 98(8), e0034224.

4. Lan, J., He, X., Ren, Y., Wang, Z., Zhou, H., Fan, S., Zhu, C., Liu, D., Shao, B., Liu, T. Y., Wang, Q., Zhang, L., Ge, J., Wang, T., and Wang, X. (2022). Structural insights into the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron RBD-ACE2 interaction. Cell research 32, 593–595.

5. Zhang, S., Qiao, S., Yu, J., Zeng, J. & Wang, X.(2021). Bat and pangolin coronavirus spike glycoprotein structures provide insights into sars-cov-2 evolution. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1607.

6. Yu, J., Qiao, S., Guo, R., & Wang, X. (2020). Cryo-EM structures of HKU2 and SADS-CoV spike glycoproteins provide insights into coronavirus evolution. Nature communications, 11(1), 3070.

7. Ju, B., Zhang, Q., Ge, J., Wang, R., Sun, J., Ge, X., Yu, J., Shan, S., Zhou, B., Song, S., Tang, X., Yu, J., Lan, J., Yuan, J., Wang, H., Zhao, J., Zhang, S., Wang, Y., Shi, X., Liu, L., Zhao, J., Wang, X., Zhang, Z., Zhang, L. (2020). Human neutralizing antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nature, 584(7819), 115–119.

8. Lan, J., Ge, J., Yu, J., Shan, S., Zhou, H., Fan, S., Zhang, Q., Shi, X., Wang, Q., Zhang, L., & Wang, X. (2020). Structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain bound to the ACE2 receptor. Nature, 581(7807), 215–220.

9. Zhou, H., Chen, Y., Zhang, S., Niu, P., Qin, K., Jia, W., Huang, B., Zhang, S., Lan, J., Zhang, L., Tan, W., & Wang, X. (2019). Structural definition of a neutralization epitope on the N-terminal domain of MERS-CoV spike glycoprotein. Nature communications, 10(1), 3068.

10. Ge, J., Remesh, S. G., Hammel, M., Pan, S., Mahan, A. D., Wang, S., & Wang, X. (2019). Functional Relevance of Interleukin-1 Receptor Inter-domain Flexibility for Cytokine Binding and Signaling. Structure (London, England : 1993), 27(8), 1296–1307.e5.

11. Song, W., Gui, M., Wang, X., & Xiang, Y. (2018). Cryo-EM structure of the SARS coronavirus spike glycoprotein in complex with its host cell receptor ACE2. PLoS pathogens, 14(8), e1007236.

12. Gui, M., Song, W., Zhou, H., Xu, J., Chen, S., Xiang, Y., & Wang, X. (2017). Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the SARS-CoV spike glycoprotein reveal a prerequisite conformational state for receptor binding. Cell research, 27(1), 119–129.

13. Wang, N., Shi, X., Jiang, L., Zhang, S., Wang, D., Tong, P., Guo, D., Fu, L., Cui, Y., Liu, X., Arledge, K. C., Chen, Y. H., Zhang, L., & Wang, X. (2013). Structure of MERS-CoV spike receptor-binding domain complexed with human receptor DPP4. Cell research, 23(8), 986–993.

14. Liu, X., Hammel, M., He, Y., Tainer, J. A., Jeng, U. S., Zhang, L., Wang, S., & Wang, X. (2013). Structural insights into the interaction of IL-33 with its receptors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(37), 14918–14923.

15. Wang, D., Zhang, S., Li, L., Liu, X., Mei, K., & Wang, X. (2010). Structural insights into the assembly and activation of IL-1β with its receptors. Nature immunology, 11(10), 905–911.

 

Contact information

          

E-mail: xinquanwang@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn