Welcome to our Lab
Ren SUN Lab
Welcome to the laboratory of Ren Sun, located in the center for infectious disease research. Our research is focused on the virology and immunology.
Our team has been integrating synthetic biology and microfluidics to develop technology platforms to profile the adaptive immune responses (antibodies, B cells and T cells) in a high-throughput manner.
Please follow the links on this page to learn more about our research and lab members.
Prospective graduate students
should visit the following web sites:
Background in virology, immunology, tumour biology, structural biology, bioinformatics, molecular biology or microfluidics, mathematics, computer science preferred.
Interested in a job position?
We have positions for researcher series, postdocs and research assistants.
Please see the Join our Team page for information.
Our Research
Define the functions of viral genome at high resolution and develop new vaccines
Systematically profile adaptive immune responses post infection or vaccination
Define protein structures and engineer protein binders for diagnosis and therapies
Recent Publications
1. Yuan S, Yin X, Meng X, Chan JF, Ye ZW, Riva L, Pache L, Chan CC, Lai PM, Chan CC, Poon VK, Lee AC, Matsunaga N, Pu Y, Yuen CK, Cao J, Liang R, Tang K, Sheng L, Du Y, Xu W, Lau CY, Sit KY, Au WK, Wang R, Zhang YY, Tang YD, Clausen TM, Pihl J, Oh J, Sze KH, Zhang AJ, Chu H, Kok KH, Wang D, Cai XH, Esko JD, Hung IF, Li RA, Chen H, Sun H, Jin DY, Sun R*, Chanda SK*, Yuen KY*. Clofazimine broadly inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2. Nature. 2021 May;593(7859):418-423. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03431-4.
2. Du Y, Hultquist JF, Zhou Q, Olson A, Tseng Y, Zhang TH, Hong M, Tang K, Chen L, Meng X, McGregor MJ, Dai L, Gong D, Martin-Sancho L, Chanda S, Li X, Bensenger S, Krogan NJ, Sun R. mRNA display with library of even-distribution reveals cellular interactors of influenza virus NS1. Nat Commun. 2020 May 15;11(1):2449. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16140-9.
3. Gong D, Dai X, Jih J, Liu YT, Bi GQ, Sun R*, Zhou ZH*. DNA-Packing Portal and Capsid-Associated Tegument Complexes in the Tumor Herpesvirus KSHV. Cell. 2019 Sep 5;178(6):1329-1343.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.07.035.
4. Thaker SK, Chapa T, Garcia G Jr, Gong D, Schmid EW, Arumugaswami V, Sun R*, Christofk HR*. Differential Metabolic Reprogramming by Zika Virus Promotes Cell Death in Human versus Mosquito Cells. Cell Metab. 2019 May 7;29(5):1206-1216.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2019.01.024.
5. Du Y, Xin L, Shi Y, Zhang TH, Wu NC, Dai L, Gong D, Brar G, Shu S, Luo J, Reiley W, Tseng YW, Bai H, Wu TT, Wang J, Shu Y, Sun R.Genome-wide identification of interferon-sensitive mutations enables influenza vaccine design.Science. 2018 Jan 19;359(6373):290-296. doi: 10.1126/science.aan8806.
6. Dai X, Gong D, Lim H, Jih J, Wu TT, Sun R*, Zhou ZH*. Structure and mutagenesis reveal essential capsid protein interactions for KSHV replication. Nature. 2018 Jan 25;553(7689):521-525. doi: 10.1038/nature25438.