Name：Dongchun Ni

Position：Associate Professor of Pharmacology

E-mail：dongchunni@szu.edu.cn

Personal Statement:

Dr. Dongchun Ni obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 2020, followed by postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Since 2025, he has been appointed as a Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Shenzhen University.

Dr. Ni’s research focuses on the rational design of functional peptides and proteins and their mechanistic studies. By integrating artificial intelligence (AI), structural biology (cryoEM), and high-throughput screening, his work aims to develop novel therapeutics targeting tumor drug resistance and bacterial antibiotic resistance. His key research directions include the discovery of new-generation antibiotics, the targeted design of anti-cancer drugs, and the elucidation of their pharmacological mechanisms, providing innovative solutions to clinical drug resistance challenges. To date, he has published over 30 research articles, including Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Science Advances, Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, Molecular Cell, Nature, PLOS Pathogens, and PNAS. He currently serves as a Young Editorial Board Member for 《Engineering Microbiology》 and as a reviewer for leading journals such as 《Nature》, 《Nature Communications》, 《Cell Research》, and 《Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy》or so. In addition, Dr. Ni is involved in teaching, primarily responsible for courses such as Pharmacology.

Research Interests:

AI-Guided Design of Innovative Antibiotics

Discovery of Novel Anti-Tumor Targeted Therapeutics

Functional Peptide and Protein Engineering

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications:

1. Ekundayo B, Torre D, Beckert B, Nazarov S, Myasnikov A, Stahlberg H*, Ni D#*. Structural insights into the regulation of Cas7-11 by TPR-CHAT. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2023 Feb;30(2):135-9.

2. Ni D*, Lu X, Stahlberg H, Ekundayo B. Activation mechanism of a short argonaute-TIR prokaryotic immune system. Science Advances. 2023 Jul 19;9(29)

3.  Ni D, Turelli P, Beckert B, Nazarov S, Uchikawa E, Myasnikov A, Pojer F, Trono D, Stahlberg H, Lau K. Cryo-EM structures and binding of mouse and human ACE2 to SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern indicate that mutations enabling immune escape could expand host range. PLoS Pathogens. 2023 Apr 5;19(4): e1011206. 

4. Fenwick C#, Turelli P#, Ni D#, Perez L, Lau K, Herate C, Marlin R, Lana E, Pellaton C, Raclot C, Esteves-Leuenberger L. Patient-derived monoclonal antibody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants and confers full protection in monkeys. Nature Microbiology. 2022 Sep;7(9):1376-89.

5. Sedzicki J#, Ni D#, Lehmann F, Wu N, Zenobi R, Jung S, Stahlberg H, Dehio C. Mechanism of cyclic β-glucan export by ABC transporter Cgt of Brucella. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2022 Dec;29(12):1170-7.