EDUCATION:

2000.09-2004.07 B.S., Pharmaceutical Science, Peking University, Beijing, China

2004.09-2009.07 Ph.D., Bioinorganic Chemistry, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

POST-GRADUATE TRAINING:

2017.02-2017.11 Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, Rong-Fu Wang, Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS:

2009.09-2013.01 Assistant Professor CAS Key Lab for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology

2013.01-2017.01 Associate Professor CAS Key Lab for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology 

2017.11-2019.10 Research Associate Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute

2019.11-2021.02 Assistant Professor Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

Research Interests

1. Nano-enabled intelligent medicine for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases; 

2. Nanotechnology-based cancer vaccine development; 

3. Immune regulatory nanomaterials and the underlying molecular mechanisms 

Selected Publications (full list via Google Scholar)

1. Guangtong Deng, Chaoran Li, Lang Chen, Changsheng Xing, Chuntang Fu, Chen Qian, Xin Liu, Helen Y. Wang, Motao Zhu*, Rong-Fu Wang*. BECN2 (beclin 2) Negatively Regulates Inflammasome Sensors Through ATG9A-Dependent but ATG16L1- and LC3-Independent Non-Canonical Autophagy. Autophagy 2021. in press 

2. Motao Zhu, Libo Du, Ruifang Zhao, Helen Y. Wang, Yuliang Zhao, Guangjun Nie*, Rong-Fu Wang*. Cell-Penetrating Nanoparticles Activate the Inflammasome to Enhance Antibody Production by Targeting Microtubule-Associated Protein 1-Light Chain 3 for Degradation. ACS Nano 2020, 14, 3, 3703-3717.

3. Motao Zhu, Guangtong Deng, Peng Tan, Cuiping Guan, Chongming Jiang, Yinlong Zhang, Bingnan Yin, Changsheng Xing, Bo Ning, Kaifu Chen, Yuliang Zhao, Helen Y. Wang, Beth Levine, Guangjun Nie*, Rong-Fu Wang*. Beclin 2 negatively regulates innate immune signaling and tumor development through non-canonical autophagy. J. Clin. Invest. 2020,130(10):5349-5369.

4. Motao Zhu, Guangtong Deng, Changsheng Xing, Guangjun Nie, Rong-Fu Wang. BECN2 (beclin 2)-mediated non-canonical autophagy in innate immune signaling and tumor development. Autophagy 2020;16(12):2310-2312.

5. Motao Zhu, Xilai Ding, Ruifang Zhao, Xuewu Liu, Haifa Shen, Chunmei Cai, Mauro Ferrari, Helen Y. Wang, Rongfu Wang*. Co-delivery of tumor antigen and dual toll-like receptor ligands into dendritic cell by silicon microparticle enables efficient immunotherapy against melanoma. J. Control. Release. 2018, 272, 72-82.