Cells are the basic structure and functional unit of organisms and play a key role in life activities. Proteins are the most abundant type of biomolecules in cells. Their structure, activity, movement and dynamic interaction with other biomolecules are the material basis for performing various cell functions. How to label and regulate these protein machines in situ in their natural environment-living cells is a challenging scientific problem.

Our research group put forward the idea of integrating unnatural amino acid expansion technology with bio-orthogonal reaction, independently developed and established a living cell "chemistry toolbox", and realized a series of original innovations in this field. In particular, the concept of bio-orthogonal bond-breaking reaction was first proposed in the world, and based on this, the protein chemical decaging technology was developed to realize the activation and regulation of proteins in vivo. This work is at the international leading level, which opened up new ways to use chemical reactions and methods to study protein functions in living cells through in-depth cooperation between chemists and life scientists, and promoted the deep cross-fusion of chemistry and life sciences.

In the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, our group will use chemical biology tools to develop new protein drugs. Antibodies and peptides have played an extremely important role in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, however, its inherent characteristics make antibodies and peptides have certain limitations in practical applications, such as the low tissue infiltration of IgG antibodies, weak peptide binding and short half-life, etc., which traditional biological modifications difficult to face directly. The development of bio-orthogonal reactions provides new opportunities. The orthogonal functional groups introduced through genetic coding and chemical modification can break through the limitation of natural residues and endow proteins with brand-new functions and characteristics.