The research interests of our group focus on the development of chemical biology approaches for functional analyses and precise modulations of proteins and cells via engineering, in order to deepen the understandings of biological processes and spark the discovery of drugs and therapeutics. We will put our efforts on 1) expanding the repertoire of functionalized proteins, such as nanobodies, with diverse targets and properties, 2) developing chemical biology tools for the regulations of post-translational modifications, and 3) devising approaches for cell surface engineering and cell interactome profiling.

Dr. Ge obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology at Peking University in 2018. During her Ph.D. training, she focused on the development and applications of the genetic code expansion technique, bioorthogonal chemistries and enzymatic protein labeling strategies. She has developed a multifunctional unnatural amino acid for protein activation via a bioorthogonal cleavage reaction, and an enzyme-mediated intercellular proximity labeling for detecting cell–cell interactions. Since 2018, Dr. Ge conducted her postdoc research at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, focusing on the study of O-GlcNAcylation, one of the ubiquitous glycan modifications on proteins. She developed the first protein-selective O-GlcNAc “eraser”, nanobody-splitOGA, by leveraging the blossoming nanobody platform and the structure-guided protein engineering, which has been on the list of most desired tools in the community for years. This tool has already drawn tremendous attention in the glycan and broader community and been widely reported. To date, Dr. Ge has published more than 10 papers on the top ranked journals, including Nature Chemical Biology, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, Chemical Science, and has filed 3 patents. 

The chemical biology toolkit for protein modulations and cell interactome profiling.

Representative papers:

Chen, Y.#; Wan, R.#; Zou, Z.#; Lao, L.; Shao, G.; Zheng, Y.; Tang, L.; Yuan, Y.; Ge, Y.*; He, C.*; Lin, S.*, O-GlcNAcylation determines the biological function of YTHDF proteins. Nat. Cell Biol., 2023, 25 (11), 1676-1690. 

Ge, Y.; Ramirez, D. H.; Yang, B.; D’Souza, A. K.; Aonbangkhen, C.; Wong, S.; Woo, C. M.*, Target protein deglycosylation in living cells by a nanobody-fused split O-GlcNAcase. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2021, 17 (5), 593-600. 

Ge, Y.#; Chen, L.#; Liu, S.; Zhao, J.; Zhang, H.; Chen, P. R.*, Enzyme-mediated intercellular proximity labeling for detecting cell-cell interactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (5), 1833-1837. 

Liu, Y.#; Ge, Y.#; Zeng, R.#; Ngai, W. S.; Fan, X.*; Chen, P. R.*, Proximity Chemistry in Living Systems. CCS Chem. 2023, 5 (4), 802-813. 

Ge, Y.*; Lu, H.; Yang, B.; Woo, C. M.* Small Molecule-Activated O-GlcNAcase for Spatiotemporal Removal of O-GlcNAc in Live Cells. ACS Chem. Biol. 2023, 18 (1), 193-201.

Ge, Y.; Woo, C. M.*, Writing and erasing O-GlcNAc from target proteins in cells. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 2021, 49 (6), 2891-2901.