Welcome to the Department of Pathogen Biology at the School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University.
Established in 2016, the Department of Pathogen Biology was the result of combiningthe Department of Microbiology and Department of Human Parasitology. Those two departmentswereestablished at the time when Tianjin Medical University was founded in 1951. The discipline of Pathogen Biology (Microbiology and Human Parasitology) has been tremendous growth and development for the pastnearly seventy years. Under the leadership ofZhongyuan Ren, Wufei Zheng, Moshi Sun，Zhiqiang Zi, Huaijie Gan, Jinghe Zhu, XingminXie, Shusen Yang, XiuzhenYang,and other Chairs along with the hard work and contribution of generations of faculty, Department of Pathology has made great achievements. It has been approved to establish a master’s degree program in 1978, a doctoral degree program in 1986 and a post-doctoral training program in 2001 successively. It is also one of the Tianjin Key Disciplines and Key Disciplines of National Project for Modern University “Project 211”.
The Department of Pathogen Biology has built a talented team of teachers and researcherswith a diverse background. Among the 31 full-time faculties, there are 7 professors, 7 associate professors, 10 lecturers, and 7 teaching & research assistants. All professors and lecturers have doctoral degrees, and all professors have been trained abroad in theirrespectiveresearch field. The team, consisting of teaching and scientific research, has laid a solid foundation for further development in the Department of Pathogen Biology.
The Department of Pathogen Biology has traditionally emphasized teaching. We have been teaching students, includingthose overseas,at different levels from the undergraduates to doctoral candidates.Currently, we have two teaching teams: one for medical microbiology, another for human parasitology. We provide 10 curriculums for undergraduates and graduates. The content of the courses is timely updated, and the teaching methods are continuously improved. In recent years, we have established a system involving teaching methodsthat aim to nurture high-level medical talents. The courses we designed are awarded as National Excellent Course of Microbiology, National Quality Bilingual Course of Microbiology, and Tianjin Municipal Quality Course for oversea students. We have compiled and published different kinds of textbooks and digital resources.
The Department of Pathogen Biology has a competent research teams which have focused on the pathogenesis, inflammation,and prevention including vaccineof pathogens including bacteria, virusand parasites, and regulation of non-coding RNA on tumorigenesis and viral replication. We are in the process of developing integrated research programs that study the interactions between microbes and their hosts. In recent 5 years, the faculties in the Department of Pathogen Biology have published more than 100 research articles in English peer-review journals (SCI). Our research projects were supported from the key projects, general project, and project for young talents of the Natural Science Foundation of China and of the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin Municipality, and granted over 10 million RMB in our department last 5 years.The Department of Pathogen Biology also supports undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral education in the areas of microbiology, parasitology and tumor biology. Departmental instruction includes lecture courses, seminar courses, and laboratory research (both undergraduate independent study and graduate thesis).
Currently, the main research interests in the Department of Pathogen Biology:
Hua Tang’s Lab
As a Professor and Chair of Tianjin Life Science Research Center and Department of Pathogen Biology, Dr. Tang’s researchinterestsfocus on the regulation of non-coding RNA on tumorigenesis and viral proliferation. The goal of ourresearch is to determine the key factors or genes, esp. non-coding RNA that regulate tumorigenesis of cancers including hepatoma, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian and cervical cancer, and regulate replication of hepatitis B virus and herpes simplex virus. Our lab has first found HBV-encoded microRNAs (HBV-miR) which affect viral replication and contribute the tumorigenesis in HCC and cloned nearly 20 new cellular miRNAs.We also haveelucidated that some non-coding RNAs are involved tumorigenesis by regulating signal pathways, esp. NF-kB and STAT3 pathway. Dr. Tang has published more than 100 research articles, H-index 36 and served as an editor of more than 10 journals.
DongmingZhou’sLab
Vaccination is generally considered to be the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases or other diseases. Adenovirus(Ad) is one of the most promising vectors in vaccine research and clinical applications that induces not only potent humoral immune responses but also cellular immune responses. Therefore,Ad has been widely used in basic and translational studies. The goal of ourlabis to generate novel Ads as gene transfer vehicles, and to establish platforms for vaccine development or molecular therapy based on recombinant chimpanzee Ads, and to explore the mechanisms involved in novel vaccines or gene therapy methods.
Ze Zhu’sLab
Dr. Zhu is mainly engaged in basic research in virology and oncology. He constructed messenger RNA vaccines to prevent JSRV virus in sheep and HPV and HSVinfection.Besides, it has the platform of constructing the fourth generation recombinant lentivirus technology and transfection cell RNAi technology. His lab also tried to find some molecular markers with early diagnostic significance in samples of Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Currently, he is studying the clinical significance of PRC2 complex dysfunction in MPNST and the downstream gene transcriptional regulation and signal pathway changes caused by PRC2 dysfunction.
Xiaoxia Li’s Lab
Focuses on mechanisms of osteoblast development and bone homeostasis. Osteogenic differentiation and adipogenic differentiation are not isolated from each other, but they are mutually restricted. Our research group confirmed that transcription factor such as NFIA could inhibit the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells and mesenchymal cell lines and promote adipogenic differentiation. Our lab focuses on abnormal bone function by the transcription factors’ signal network to provide an important experimental basis for the improvement of bone quality, prevention and treatment of the bone metabolic diseases and metabolic disorders.
Peimei Liu’s Lab
Our and others' previous studies have shown that Schistosomajaponicum (SJ) infection can inhibit allergic reactions. DC’s played an important role in SJ infection‐mediated inhibition of allergy, which was associated with enhanced IL-10 and T regulatory cell responses. Our study focuses on the molecular and cellular bases of the DC subset‐mediated modulating effect will provide new insight into the mechanism of infection‐mediated modulation of allergic asthma and will help develop novel therapeutic and preventive approaches against allergic diseases.
Lizi Hu’s Lab
Self-renewal and differentiation of epidermal keratinocytesareregulated by a combination of extrinsic gene signals from the niche as well as intrinsic signal pathways. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) and its co-activators (DRIP205，SRC3) play an essential role in regulating the proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes. We will use the overexpression/interference model to explore the transcriptional activity modulation of these key factors. Evaluation of epidermal regeneration vitality will confirm the differential role of the coactivators in the wound healing process. This project will facilitate our understanding of epidermal renewing programed by DRIP205 and SRC3, and show the potential of specific co-activators as therapeutic targets according to different renewing steps of keratinocytes.