Weiwei He, Ph.D.
Research Direction: Chemical biology of bioactive small molecules
Contact Information
Education
The Scripps Research Institute
La Jolla, CA, USA
School of Life Sciences
University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, Anhui, China
Department of Biology
Shantou University
Shantou, Guangdong, China
Research Interests
Natural products exhibit diverse bioactivities and unparalleled biocompatibility. They are important tools at the chemistry-biology interface and useful lead compounds for drug discovery. After establishing the lab at School of Pharmacy in ECUST in 2014, my research interest mainly focuses on target identification and mechanism-of-action studies of bioactive small molecules, including natural products and their analogues. We aim to identify novel functions of potential drug targets using bioactive small molecules as probes, to further elucidate the complex biological pathways, and to provide deeper understanding of the pathology of the diseases, such as cancer.
Professional Experience
2013 – 2014 Postdoctoral fellow
The Scripps Research Institute
La Jolla, CA, USA
2014 – Present Associate Professor
East China University of Science and Technology
Shanghai, China
Publications
1. Gongcai Lan, Jie Zhang, Wenbo Ye, Fan Yang, Ang Li*, Weiwei He*, and Wei-Dong Zhang* Celastrol as a tool for the study of the biological events of metabolic diseases. SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, 2019, 62(4), 409–416.
2. Zhongyin Zhang, Jinxin Wang, Jian Li, Fan Yang, Guodu Liu, Wenjun Tang, Weiwei He, Jian-Jun Fu, Yun-Heng Shen*, Ang Li*, and Wei-Dong Zhang* Total Synthesis and Stereochemical Assignment of Delavatine A: Rh-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Indene-Type Tetrasubstituted Olefins and Kinetic Resolution through Pd-Catalyzed Triflamide-Directed C–H Olefination. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139 (15), 5558–5567.
3. Jinpeng Pei, Shupeng Zhou, Fan Yang, Yu Sun, Ang Li*, Wei-Dong Zhang*, and Weiwei He*, Identification and mechanistic studies of a cell cycle regulator JP18 from a library of synthetic indole terpenoid mimics. Chem. Asian J. 2016, 11, 2715–2718.
4. Zhongyin Zhang, Fan Yang, Jian-Jun Fu, Yun-Heng Shen*, Weiwei He*, and Wei-Dong Zhang*, Delavatine A, a structurally unusual cyclopenta[de] isoquinoline alkaloid from Incarvillea delavayi, RSC advances, 2016, 6, 65885–65888.
5. Litao Sun, Ana Cristina Gomes, Weiwei He, Huihao Zhou, Xiaoyun Wang, David W. Pan, Paul Schimmel, Tao Pan*, and Xiang-lei Yang*, Evolutionary gain of alanine mischarging to non-cognate tRNAs with a G4:U69 base pair. J Am Chem Soc. 2016, 138(39), 12948–12955.
6. Weiwei He§, Ge Bai§, Huihao Zhou, Na Wei, Nicholas M. White, Janelle Lauer, Huaqing Liu, Yi Shi, Calin Dan Dumitru, Karen Lettieri, Veronica Shubayev, Albena Jordanova, Velina Guergueltcheva, Patrick Griffin, Robert W. Burgess, Samuel L. Pfaff* and Xiang-Lei Yang* (§these authors contribute equally), CMT2D neuropathy is linked to the neomorphic binding activity of glycyl-tRNA synthetase. Nature, 2015, 526(7575), 710–714.
7. Min Chul Park, Taehee Kang, Da Jin, Jung Min Han, Sang Bum Kim, Yun Jung Park, Kiwon Cho, Young Woo Park, Min Guo, Weiwei He, Xiang-Lei Yang, Paul Schimmel, and Sunghoon Kim*, Secreted human glycyl-tRNA synthetase implicated in defense against ERK-activated tumorigenesis. PNAS Plus, 2012, doi/10.1073/pnas.1200194109.
8. Weiwei He§, Hui-Min Zhang§, Yeeting E. Chong, Min Guo, Alan G. Marshall, and Xiang-Lei Yang* (§these authors contribute equally), Dispersed disease-causing neomorphic mutations on a single protein promote the same localized conformational opening. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2011, 108, 12307–12312.
