Faculty

Education

2010.09-2016.07, Ph.D., School of Life Sciences, Peking University
2006.09-2010.07, B.S., School of Life Sciences, Peking University

Professional Experience

2022.06-present, Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China；
2022.06-present, Investigator, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China；
2021.10-2022.04，Postdoc research fellow, Massachusetts General hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA；
2016.09-2021.09, Postdoc fellow, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Research Interests

Our lab is mostly interested in the dynamics, contact and functions of membrane organelles, like the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria. The ER is the biggest organelle in a cell with highly complex and dynamic morphology. The ER plays key roles in many important cell functions, and abnormality in ER shape or functions is closely related to neurodegeneration diseases and cancer. The ER forms contacts with virtually all other organelles, which are believed to be important for many cell functions, yet our understanding of the molecular mechanism and functions of organelle contacts and their contribution to human diseases is still very limited. Our recent work has shown how ER proteins decipher the “tubulin code” to determine broad organelle distribution, and how the tubular ER specifically response to DNA damage and promotes cell death via ER-mitochondria contacts. We will continue to study dynamic regulation of the ER and other membrane organelles, trying to unravel how abnormality in their morphology and function leads to disease development. Our major directions are:

1, Regulation of the dynamics and interaction of membrane-bound organelles,especilly the ER;
2, Molecular mechanisms of how abnormality in organelle shape or distribution cause human diseases.

Representative Peer-Reviewed Publications

1. Yanyi Song, Shuyi Jian, Junlin Teng, Pengli Zheng#, Zhe Zhang#. Structural basis of human VANGL-PRICKLE interaction. Nature Communications, 2025, 16:132
2. Hui Feng#, Xiao Liu, Chenqian Zhou, Qiuchen Gu, Ye Li, Jianguo Chen, Junlin Teng#, Pengli Zheng#. CCDC115 inhibits autophagy-mediated degradation of YAP to promote cell proliferation. FEBS Letters, 2023, 597: 618-630.
3. Pengli Zheng#, Christopher Obara, Ewa Szczesna, Jonathon Nixon-Abell, Kishore Mahalingan, Antonina Roll-Mecak, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Craig Blackstone#. Endoplasmic Reticulum Proteins Decipher the Tubulin Code to Regulate Organelle Distribution. Nature. 2022, 601: 132-138.
4. Birong Shen*, Pengli Zheng*, Nannan Qian*, Qingzhou Chen*, Xin Zhou, Junjie Hu, Jianguo Chen#, Junlin Teng#. Calumenin-1 Interacts with Climp63 to Cooperatively Determine the Luminal Width and Distribution of Endoplasmic Reticulum Sheets. iScience. 2019, 22: 70-80.
5. Pengli Zheng*, Qingzhou Chen*, Xiaoyu Tian*, Nannan Qian, Peiyuan Chai, Bin Liu, Junjie Hu, Craig Blackstone, Desheng Zhu, Junlin Teng#, Jianguo Chen#. DNA damage triggers tubular endoplasmic reticulum extension to promote apoptosis by facilitating ER-mitochondria signaling. Cell Research. 2018, 28: 833-854.