Dr. Shixin Ma earned her PhD in Immunology in 2017 from Soochow University, under a joint training program with the Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. From 2017 to 2025, she conducted postdoctoral research at Yale University and subsequently at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, under the mentorship of Professor Susan Kaech, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a renowned immunologist. Prior to returning to China, she served as a Senior Research Associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. In July 2025, she joined the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation as a Junior Principal Investigator at the Institute of Human Immunology.

Dr. Shixin Ma has long focused on the research of epigenetic regulation and nutrient metabolism in immune cells, elucidating how epigenetic mechanisms and their interactions with metabolism define the fate and function of immune cells (including dendritic cells and CD8+ T cells) during tumorigenesis and viral infection. Her work has been published in leading journals including Science and the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Lab Research Directions

The lab focuses on the nutrient-specific epigenetic mechanisms that govern immune cells, aiming to elucidate how nutrient metabolism precisely defines immune function through epigenetic regulation, thereby advancing precise immune modulation via a metabolic-epigenetic coupling strategy.

The lab employs mouse models and integrates multi-omics approaches (proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, and genetics), systematically elucidating how immune cells (e.g., T cells) perceive and respond to nutrient signals within tissue microenvironments during tumorigenesis and viral infection. The lab's work focuses on two core questions:  

(1) How does nutrient metabolism regulate the functions of immune cells?

(2) How do immune cells perceive and respond to nutrient signals in tissue microenvironments?

Selected Publications

1. Shixin Ma; Michael S. Dahabieh; Thomas H. Mann; Steven Zhao; Bryan McDonald; Won-Suk Song; H. Kay Chung; Yagmur Farsakoglu; Lizmarie Garcia-Rivera; Filipe Araujo Hoffmann; Shihao Xu; Victor Y. Du; Dan Chen; Jesse Furgiuele; Michael A. LaPorta; Emily Jacobs; Lisa M. DeCamp; Brandon M. Oswald; Ryan D. Sheldon; Abigail E. Ellis; Longwei Liu; Peixiang He; Yingxiao Wang; Cholsoon Jang; Russell G. Jones; Susan M. Kaech ; Nutrient-driven histone code determines exhausted CD8 + T cell fates, Science, 2025, 387(6734)

2. Irem Kaymak; McLane J. Watson; Brandon M. Oswald; Shixin Ma; Benjamin K. Johnson; Lisa M.DeCamp; Batsirai M. Mabvakure; Katarzyna M. Luda; Eric H. Ma; Kin Lau; Zhen Fu; Brejnev Muhire; Susan M. Kitchen-Goosen; Alexandra Vander Ark; Michael S. Dahabieh; Bozena Samborska; Matthew Vos; Hui Shen; Zi Peng Fan; Thomas P. Roddy; Gillian A. Kingsbury; Cristovão M. Sousa; Connie M. Krawczyk; Kelsey S. Williams; Ryan D. Sheldon; Susan M. Kaech; Dominic G. Roy; Russell G. Jones ; ACLY andACSS2 link nutrient-dependent chromatin accessibility to CD8 T cell effector responses, Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2024, 221(9)

3. Bryan McDonald; Brent Y. Chick; Nasiha S. Ahmed; Mannix Burns; Shixin Ma; Eduardo Casillas; Dan Chen; Thomas H. Mann; Carolyn O'Connor; Nasun Hah; Diana C. Hargreaves; Susan M. Kaech ; Canonical BAF complex activity shapesthe enhancer landscape that licenses CD8(+) T cell effector and memory fates, Immunity, 2023, 56(6): 1303-1319.E5

4. Dan Chen; Siva Karthik Varanasi; Toshiro Hara; Kacie Traina; Ming Sun; Bryan McDonald; Yagmur Farsakoglu; Josh Clanton; Shihao Xu; Lizmarie Garcia-Rivera; Thomas H. Mann; Victor Du; H. Kay Chung; Ziyan Xu; Victoria Tripple; Eduardo Casillas; Shixin Ma; Carolyn O'Connor; Qiyuan Yang; Ye Zheng; Tony Hunter; Greg Lemke; Susan M. Kaech ; CTLA-4 blockade induces a microglia-Th1 cell partnership that stimulates microglia phagocytosis and anti-tumor function in glioblastoma, Immunity, 2023, 56(9): 2086-2104.E8

5. Heleen H. Van Acker; Shixin Ma; Tommaso Scolaro; Susan M. Kaech; Massimiliano Mazzone ; How metabolism bridles cytotoxic CD8+ T cells through epigenetic modifications, Trends in Immunology, 2021, 42(5): 401-4176.

6. Chun Zhou; Xia Chen; Rosa Planells-Cases; Jiachen Chu; Li Wang; Limin Cao; Zhihong Li; Karen I. López-Cayuqueo; Yadong Xie; Shiwei Ye; Xiang Wang; Florian Ullrich; Shixin Ma; Yiyuan Fang; Xiaoming Zhang; Zhikang Qian; Xiaozheng Liang; Shi-Qing Cai; Zhengfan Jiang; Dongming Zhou; Qibin Leng; Tsan S. Xiao; Ke Lan; Jinbo Yang; Huabin Li; Chao Peng; Zhaozhu Qiu; Thomas J. Jentsch; Hui Xiao ; Transfer of cGAMP into Bystander Cells via LRRC8 Volume-Regulated Anion Channels Augments STING-Mediated Interferon Responses and Anti-viral Immunity, Immunity, 2020, 52(5): 767-781.e6