Research/Areas of Interest:

Necroptosis, which is a pathway of regulated necrotic cell death, is a driver of lung cell death in diseases such as COPD. The serine/threonine kinase RIPK3 is the executioner of necroptosis, and it will trigger necroptosis by phosphorylating its binding partner and substrate, MLKL. As part of a project aimed at developing new small molecule inhibitors of necroptosis, I am helping to obtain the crystal structures of RIPK3:drug complexes and MLKL:drug complexes. I am purifying the proteins, refining crystallization conditions, growing crystals of the protein-drug complexes. I hope to collect X-ray data and determine the structures of these molecules so that the details of the small molecule interactions can be understood at atomic resolution.

Education

BS, Pharmaceutical Science, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China