Chao Qi, Principal Investigator

Contact Information

Email: chaoqi@bjmu.edu.cn

Research Interests

Transmembrane signal transduction, Neurodegenerative diseases, Structural biology

Personal Profile

Prof. Chao Qi is a Principal Investigator at the Department of Biophysics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, and a dual-appointed PI at the Institute of Neuroscience, Peking University. He has been selected for the National Overseas Talent Program as well as the Peking University Boya Young Scholar Program.

His research focuses on cellular signal transduction, neurodegenerative diseases, and structural biology. He has made a series of original and significant contributions in these areas. Major achievements include:

1. Systematic studies of the catalytic mechanism of adenylyl cyclase 9 (AC9) in the cAMP signalling pathway, revealing its autoinhibitory mechanism. Develop a DARPin tool specifically targeting AC9, and comprehensively elucidating the activation mechanism of AC9.

2. Elucidation of how the Hedgehog receptor PTCH1 interacts with its ligand hedgehog to activate the Hedgehog signalling pathway.

3. Characterisation of the opening and closing mechanisms of connexins (Connexin32 and Connexin43), highlighting the essential role of lipids in regulating connexin function.

4. Structural determination of tau filaments from tau mutants and regional tauopathies, advancing structure-based classification of tauopathies.

To date, he has published a series of important papers in journals such as  Science  (2019),  Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (2025),  Science Advances (2019, 2023),  Nature Communications (2022),  PNAS (2023),  eLife (2023), and  Acta Neuropathologica (2024). He has been invited to present at multiple international conferences and serves as a reviewer for  eLife ,  Science Advances , and  Nature .

The Qi Lab focuses on transmembrane signal transduction and neurodegenerative diseases, and develops  in situ  structural biology methods such as cryo-electron tomography to pave the way for drug discovery and clinical translation.

Education and Professional Experience

2025 – present: Principal Investigator, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University.

2022 – 2025: Postdoctoral Fellow, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK

Mentors: Dr. Sjors Scheres (FRS) and Dr. Michel Goedert (FRS)

Advisor: Dr. Chris Tate (FRS)

2019 – 2021: Postdoctoral Fellow, ETH Zurich & Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI),    Switzerland

Mentor: Prof. Volodymyr Korkhov

2015 – 2019: Ph.D., ETH Zurich & Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland

Mentor: Prof. Volodymyr Korkhov

2012 – 2015: M.S., Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Advisor: Prof. Dacheng Wang (CAS Academician)

2007 – 2012: B.S., School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University (Five-year program, Biomedicine)

2008.2 – 2008.6: Clinical Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University

Teaching

Structural Biology Techniques

Member

Ph.D. Students: Kexin Ling, Zepeng Yin

Publications

1. Chao Qi, Sofia Lovestam, Alexey G Murzin, Sew Peak-Chew, Catarina Franco, Marika Bogdani, Caitlin Latimer, Jill R Murrell, Patrick W Cullinane, Zane Jaunmuktane, Thomas D Bird, Bernardino Ghetti, Sjors HW Scheres, Michel Goedert. Tau filaments with the Alzheimer fold in human MAPT mutants V337M and R406W. Nat Struct Mol Biol, doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01498-5 (2025).

2. Chao Qi, Ryota Kobayashi, Shinobu Kawakatsu, Fuyuki Kametani, Sjors HW Scheres, Michel Goedert, Masato Hasegawa. Tau filaments with the chronic traumatic encephalopathy fold in a case of Vacuolar Tauopathy with VCP mutation D395G. Acta Neuropathol 147,86 (2024).

3. Chao Qi*, Bert M Verheijen*, Yasumasa Kokubo*, Yang Shi*, Stephan Tetter, Alexey G Murzin, Asa Nakahara, Satoru Morimoto, Marc Vermulst, Ryogen Sasaki, Eleonora Aronica, Yoshifumi Hirokawa, Kiyomitsu Oyanagi, Akiyoshi Kakita, Benjamin Ryskeldi-Falcon, Mari Yoshida, Masato Hasegawa, Sjors HW Scheres, Michel Goedert. Tau Filaments from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Parkinsonism-Dementia Complex (ALS/PDC) adopt the CTE Fold. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120, e2306767120 (2023).

4. Chao Qi*, Masato Hasegawa*, Masaki Takao, Motoko Sakai, Mayasuki Sasaki, Masashi Mizutani, Akio Akagi, Yasushi Iwasaki, Hiroaki Miyahara, Mari Yoshida, Sjors HW Scheres, Michel Goedert. Identical tau filaments in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Acta Neuropathol Commun 11(1): 74. (2023).

5. Chao Qi*, Pia Lavriha*, Erva Bayraktar*, Anand Vaithia, Dina Schuster, Micaela Pannella, Valentina Sala, Paola Picotti, Mario Bortolozzi, Volodymyr M Korkhov. Structures of wild-type and selected CMT1X mutant connexin 32 gap junction channels and hemichannels. Science Advances.  (2023).

6. Chao Qi*, Silvia Acosta-Gutierrez*, Pia Lavriha, Alaa Othman, Diego Lopez-Pigozzi, Erva Bayraktar, Dina Schuster, Paola Picotti, Nicola Zamboni, Mario Bortolozzi, Francesco L Gervasio, and Volodymyr M. Korkhov. Structure of the connexin-43 gap junction channel reveals a closed sieve-like molecular gate. eLife 12:RP87616. (2023).

7. Chao Qi, Pia Lavriha, Ved Mehta, Basavraj Khannpnavar, Inayathulla Mohammed, Yong Li, Michalis Lazaratos, Jonas V. Schaefer, Birgit Dreier, Andreas Plückthun, Ana-Nicoleta Bondar, Carmen W. Dessauer, Volodymyr M. Korkhov. Structural basis of adenylyl cyclase 9 activation. Nature Communications 13, 1045 (2022).

8. Chao Qi, Simona Sorrentino, Ohad Medalia, Volodymyr M. Korkhov. The structure of a membrane adenylyl cyclase bound to an activated stimulatory G protein. Science 364, 389-394, (2019).

9. Chao Qi, Giulio Di Minin, Irene Vercellino, Anton Wutz, Volodymyr M. Korkhov. Structural basis of sterol recognition by human hedgehog receptor PTCH1. Science Advances 5, eaaw6490 (2019).

10. Na Feng*, Chao Qi*, Yan-jie Hou, Ying Zhang, Da-Cheng Wang, De-Feng Li. The C2'- and C3'-endo equilibrium for AMP molecules bound in the cystathionine-beta-synthase domain. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 497, 646-651.(2018). (*co-first author)

11. Chao Qi*, De-Feng Li*, Lei Feng, Yanjie Hou, Hui Sun, Da-Cheng Wang, Wei Liu . Biochemical and structural characterization of a novel ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 from Agrocybe aegeria reveals Ube2w family-specific properties. Sci Rep 5, 16056. (2015).

12. B. Khannpnavar*, V. Mehta*, Chao Qi*, V. Korkhov, Structure and function of adenylyl cyclases, key enzymes in cellular signaling. Curr Opin Struct Biol 63, 34-41 (2020). (*co-first author)

13. Basavraj Khanppnavar, Julian Maier, Freja Herborg, Ralph Gradisch, Erika Lazzarin, Dino Luethi, Jae-Won Yang, Chao Qi, Marion Holy, Kathrin Jaentsch, Oliver Kudlacek, Klaus Schicker, Thomas Werge, Ulrik Gether, Thomas Stockner, Volodymyr Korkhov, Harald H Sitte. Structural basis of organic cation transporter-3 inhibition. Nature Communications. (2022).

14. Xuefeng Zhang, Alejandro Pizzoni, Kyoungja Hong, Nyla Naim, Chao Qi, Volodymyr Korkhov, Daniel L Altschuler. CAP1 binds and activates adenylyl cyclase in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 118(24).(2021).

15. F. Cannac, Chao Qi, J Falschlunger, G Hausmann, K Basler, VM Korkhov. Cryo-EM structure of the Hedgehog release protein Dispatched. Sci Adv 6, eaay7928 (2020).

16. X. Q. Xie, X-L Zhang, Chao Qi, D-F Li, Joy Fleming, D-C Wang, L-J Bi. Crystallographic observation of the movement of the membrane-distal domain of the T7SS core component EccB1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun 72, 139-144 (2016).

17. Li-Li Miao, Yan-Jie Hou, Hong-Xia Fan, Jie Qu, Chao Qi, Ying Liu, De-Feng Li, Zhi-Pei Liu. Molecular Structural Basis for the Cold Adaptedness of the Psychrophilic beta-Glucosidase BglU in Micrococcus antarcticus. Appl Environ Microbiol 82, 2021-2030 (2016).

* co-first author