Immunogenomics Laboratory

Hu, Jiazhi

Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor

Principal Investigator, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences

Recipient of The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China

Recipient of Qiushi Outstanding Youth Award

Overseas High-level Talent Introduction Program for Young Scholars of China

Research Field:

The immune system protects us from infection or diseases by effectively eliminating pathogens. Lymphocyte receptors, including the B cell receptor (secreted as an antibody) and T cell receptor, target B or T lymphocytes to pathogens and initiate the activation of the adaptive immune response. Lymphocyte receptors show high diversity upon generation and high specificity when recognizing antigens and thus become the most diverse system in humans. Immunogenomics refers to a new branch of molecular immunology that employs genomics methods to study the adaptive immune response based on lymphocyte receptors. Our major research interest is to develop and use genomics assays to investigate the mechanism underlying the diversification of lymphocyte receptors and uncover the two main mysteries in molecular immunology that are allelic exclusion and immune selection of lymphocytes. Lymphocytes protect us from disease, but genome instability can also convert normal lymphocytes to lymphomas or leukemia cells. Therefore, we also focus on how to maintain the genome integrity of lymphocytes.