Name：Kai Zheng

Position：Associate Professor

E-mail：zhengk@szu.edu.cn

Personal Statement: 

Dr. Kai Zheng is an associate professor of school of pharmacy, Shenzhen University (Shenzhen, China). He graduated from the Department of Biotechnology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2008, received a master's degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2011, and received a doctorate in science from Jinan University in 2014. In 2015, he joined Shenzhen University to conduct postdoctoral research. 

Dr. Zheng’s research interests focus on host-microbial interactions and the functions of the autophagy-lysosome pathway in infectious diseases. He is particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms of herpesvirus (HSV) infection and the development of novel antiviral drugs. To date, he has published over 90 papers in peer-reviewed professional journals, including Autophagy, Gut microbes, EMBO rep and mBio. He serves as an academic editor of the journals PloS Pathogens, International journal of microbiology, Scientific Reports and Biomed Research International, as well as the guest editor of Frontiers in microbiology and Cells.

Research Interests:

Herpesvirus infection mechanism

Metabolites in antiviral immunity

Senotherapy and autophagy

Research Projects:

1. NSFC (China) Project (82372244): 01/01/2024 to 12/31/2027  ￥480,000

2. Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Program (JCYJ20240813142010014): 11/27/2024 to 11/26/2027  ￥300,000

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications:

1. Song X#, Wang Y#, Zou W#, Wang Z, Cao W, Liang M, Li F, Zeng Q, Ren Z, Wang Y*, Zheng K*. Inhibition of mitophagy via the EIF2S1-ATF4-PRKN pathway contributes to viral encephalitis. J Adv Res, 2024. S2090-1232(24)00326-6.

2. Zeng Q#, Chen Z#, Li S, Huang Z, Ren Z, Ye C, Wang X, Zhou J, Liu K*, Zheng K*, Wang Y*. HDAC6 deacetylates TRIM56 to negatively regulate cGAS-STING-mediated type I Interferon responses. EMBO reports, 2025, 26:720.

3. Liu T#, Pan X#, Ren L, Ye X*, Zheng K*, Zhang Y*. Mapping Autophagy-Related Membrane Contact Site Proteins and Complexes with AutoMCS Navigator. Autophagy, 2024, 20: 2593.

4. Li F, Wang Y*, Zheng K*. Microglial mitophagy integrates the microbiota-gut-brain axis to restrain neuroinflammation during neurotropic herpesvirus infection. Autophagy. 2023; 19: 734. 

5. Li F#, Wang Y#, Song X#, Wang Z, Jia J, Qing S, Huang L, Wang Y, Wang S, Ren Z*, Zheng K*, Wang Y*. The intestinal microbial metabolite nicotinamide n-oxide prevents herpes simplex encephalitis via activating mitophagy in microglia. Gut microbes. 2022; 14: 2096989.