Dr. Meidi Gu received her Ph.D. from Zhejiang University, followed by postdoctoral training at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Following this, she joined the Center for Cellular Immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania as a Senior Research Investigator. In April 2026, she joined Institute of Human Immunity at SMART as a junior Investigator.

Dr. Gu's research has long focused on the mechanistic study of T cell anti-tumor immunity and its translational application in immunotherapy. Her work explores T cell signaling crosstalk and membrane functional regulation, identifying how membrane dysregulation drives T cell dysfunction and applying these insights to engineer novel CAR-T strategies for solid tumors. Her collective work provides insights into the application of membrane signaling regulation in immunotherapy.

Research Directions

Gu lab will focus on investigating the underlying mechanisms by which cell membrane remodeling regulates T cell function within the diseased tissue microenvironment. Based on these mechanistic insights, we develop next-generation engineered immunotherapies targeting the cell membrane. By integrating murine models, humanized systems and multi-omics analysis with synthetic biology approaches, we focus on the following research directions: 

1. Functional characterization and remodeling of novel T-cell membrane proteins. 

2. Designing and optimizing innovative cell therapy protocols based on new discoveries in membrane biology.

Representative Publications

1. Meidi Gu*, Kaitlin A. Read, Vipin Bhardwaj, Edmund J. Carvalho, David Padron Nardo, Justin C. Shayne, Divanshu Shukla, Wei Liu, Donald L. Siegel, Neil C. Sheppard, Michael C. Milone, Adam D. Cohen, Alfred L. Garfall, and James L. Riley*. Rab5 Improves CAR T Cell Efficacy via Reducing Fratricide and Maintaining Surface CAR Levels. (*first and co-corresponding author, accepted, Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2026).

2. Meidi Gu #, Xiaofei Zhou #, Jee Hyung Sohn, Lele Zhu, Zuliang Jie, Jin-Young Yang, Xiaofeng Zheng, Xiaoping Xie, Jie Yang, Yaoyao Shi, Hans D Brightbill, Jae Bum Kim, Jing Wang, Xuhong Cheng, Shao-Cong Sun. NF-κB-inducing kinase maintains T cell metabolic fitness in antitumor immunity. Nat Immunol. 22, pages 193–204 (2021).

3. Lele Zhu *, Xiaofei Zhou, Meidi Gu, Jiseong Kim, Yanchuan Li, Chun-Jung Ko, Xiaoping Xie, Tianxiao Gao, Xuhong Cheng, Shao-Cong Sun. Dapl1 controls NFATc2 activation to regulate CD8+ T cell exhaustion and responses in chronic infection and cancer. Nat Cell Biol. 2022 Jul;24(7):1165-1176.

4. Zuliang Jie, Chun-Jung Ko, Hui Wang, Xiaoping Xie, Yanchuan Li, Meidi Gu, Lele Zhu, Jin-Young Yang, Tianxiao Gao, Wenjuan Ru, Shao-Jun Tang, Xuhong Cheng, Shao-Cong Sun. Microglia promote autoimmune inflammation via the noncanonical NF-κB pathway. Sci Adv. 2021 Sep 3;7(36):eabh0609.

5. Lele Zhu, Yanchuan Li, Xiaoping Xie, Xiaofei Zhou, Meidi Gu, Zuliang Jie, Chun-Jung Ko, Tianxiao Gao, Blanca E Hernandez, Xuhong Cheng, Shao-Cong Sun. TBKBP1 and TBK1 form a growth factor signaling axis mediating immunosuppression and tumorigenesis. Nat Cell Biol. 02 Dec. 2019, 21(12):1604-1614.

6. Zuliang Jie, Jin-Young Yang, Meidi Gu, Hui Wang, Xiaoping Xie, Yanchuan Li, Ting Liu, Lele Zhu, Jianhong Shi, Lingyun Zhang, Xiaofei Zhou, Donghyun Joo, Hans D Brightbill, Yingzi Cong, Daniel Lin, Xuhong Cheng, Shao-Cong Sun. NIK signaling axis regulates dendritic cell function in intestinal immunity and homeostasis. Nature Immunology. volume 19, pages 1224–1235 (2018).

7. Meidi Gu, Zhiyong Liu, Rongrong Lai, Si Liu, Wenlong Lin, Chuan Ouyang, Sheng Ye, He Huang, Xiaojian Wang. RKIP and TBK1 form a positive feedback loop to promote type I interferon production in innate immunity. EMBO J. 2016 Dec 1;35(23):2553-2565.

8. Meidi Gu, Ting Zhang, Wenlong Lin, Zhiyong Liu, Rongrong Lai, Dajing Xia, He Huang, Xiaojian Wang. Protein phosphatase PP1 negatively regulates the Toll-like receptor- and RIG-I-like receptor-triggered production of type I interferon by inhibiting IRF3 phosphorylation at serines 396 and 385 in macrophages. Cell Signal. 2014 Dec;26(12):2930-9.

9. Chuan Ouyang*, Li Nie*, Meidi Gu*, Ailing Wu, Xu Han, Xiaojian Wang, Jianzhong Shao, Zongping Xia. TGF-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) Activation Requires Phosphorylation of Serine 412 by Protein Kinase A Catalytic Subunit α (PKACα) and Protein Kinase X (PRKX). J Biol Chem. 2014 Aug 29;289(35):24226-37. (*co-first author).