Jianliang Xu, Ph.D., received his doctoral degree from Nanjing University, School of Life Sciences, in China where he studied the transcription regulation of oncogene protein tyrosine phosphatase 4A3 (PTP4A3/PRL-3). Subsequently, Dr. Xu studied the molecular mechanism of immunoglobulin gene diversification under the mentorship of Professor Tasuku Honjo at Kyoto University. He joined the Laboratory of Lymphocyte Nuclear Biology at the NIAMS in 2014, where he is now a Research Fellow.

Dr. Xu’s research on B lymphocytes has expanded from deciphering the mechanism of antibody diversification and maturation in cell culture models to establishing experimental mouse models and creating novel tools for antibody drug development. He has developed knock-in mouse strains to study transcription factors dynamic in primary B cells. Recently, he has engineered a camelized mouse model (nanomice, NIH Employee Invention Report E-209-2020-0) in which B cells no longer express conventional heavy/light chain-paired IgM and IgG1. Instead, both IgM and IgG1 are heavy chain-only, and their variable domains are from camelid animals. Using llamas and the novel nanomouse model, Dr. Xu identified two groups of nanobodies that can potently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and its circulating variants.