Qingtao Shen

Qingtao Shen’s group focuses on studying the interplays betweenproteins and membrane. Cells especially eukaryotic cells haveevolved complicated intracellular membrane system. The interplaybetween proteins especially membrane proteins and membranelipids is central to almost every aspects of cell biology. Theseinteractions not only determine cell and organelle shape and theevolution of shape over time, but also turn on and off the signalsthat control essential cell processes and communication betweencells. Meanwhile, pathogens such as HIV-1 also subvert and co-opt these interactions to invade the hosts. Our research interest isto reveal the structure of membrane-interacting proteins, leadingto molecular mechanism of protein-membrane interactions. Cryo-Electron Microscopy/Electron Tomography (cryo-EM/ET) hasalready been proven powerful to examine both in vivo and in vitroheterogeneous samples at diverse scales from cell section toindividual proteins with high resolution. These merits draw cryo-EM/ET the heart of our tools, complemented with biochemistry,fluorescence imaging, x-ray crystallography and dynamicsimulation, which will lead to a constant stream of new hypothesesabout biological function and mechanism. We will also place thehighest value upon making direct tests of these hypotheses incells, and this is the integral map of Our research.