Maolin Lu is an assistant professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. She obtained her Ph.D. in Photochemical Sciences at Bowling Green State University, where she worked with Peter Lu and was trained as a biophysicist in single-molecule technologies. She worked as a postdoc in Walther Mothes’s lab at Yale University to explore the virology world. Dr. Lu has a strong research record in studying HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 surface spike proteins. As the leading/corresponding author, she published in Nature, Cell Host & Microbe, Nat Struct Mol Biol, mBio, J Virol, etc. She has been a peer reviewer for Nat Struct Mol Biol, Nat Commun, PLOS Biol, Comput Struct Biotechnol J, Sci Rep, Viruses, etc. Her research accomplishment in cell entry of enveloped viruses has been recognized with awards from The Foundation for AIDS Research, the Gilead Research program, the R56 bridge award from NIH, and the collaborative development award from Duke Center for HIV-1 Structural Biology.

Research Interests

The research in Dr.Lu’s laboratory focuses on

1. molecular understanding of the entry of HIV-1 into susceptible cells;
2. conformational/structural dynamics and allostery of SARS-CoV-2 spike variants during virus evolution;
3. viral membrane fusion mechanism of enveloped viruses;
4. virus antagonism and evasion of antibody recognition. Her lab uses an interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary approach involving biophysics, biochemistry, virology, and cell biology to understand the critical role of dynamics of virus surface glycoproteins in cell entry and immune evasion.

Selective Publications

1. Ma X, Lu M, Gorman J, Terry DS, Hong X, Zhou Z, Zhao H, Altman RB, Arthos J, Blanchard SC, Kwong PD, Munro JB, Mothes W. (2018). HIV-1 Env trimer opens through an asymmetric intermediate in which individual protomers adopt distinct conformations. Elife. PMC5896952.

2. Lu M, Ma X, Castillo-Menendez LR, Gorman J, Alsahafi N, Ermel U, Terry DS, Chambers M, Peng D, Zhang B, Zhou T, Reichard N,Wang K, Grover JR, Carman BP, Gardner MR, Nikić-Spiegel I, Sugawara A, Arthos J, Lemke EA, Smith AB, Farzan M, Abrams C, Munro JB, McDermott AB, Finzi A, Kwong PD, Blanchard SC, Sodroski JG, Mothes W. (2019). Associating HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein structures with states on the virus observed by smFRET. Nature. 568(7752): 415-419. PMC6655592.

3. Li Z#, Li W#, Lu M#, Bess J Jr, Chao CW, Gorman J, Terry DS, Zhang B, Zhou T, Blanchard SC, Kwong PD, Lifson JD, Mothes W, Liu J. (2020). Subnanometer structures of HIV-1 envelope trimers on aldrithiol-2-inactivated virus particles. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 27: 726-734. NIHMS1682590.(#contributed equally).

4. Henderson R, Lu M, Zhou Y, Mu Z, Parks R, Han Q, Hsu AL, Carter E, Blanchard SC, Edwards RJ, Wiehe K, Saunders KO, Borgnia MJ, Bartesaghi A, Mothes W, Haynes BF, Acharya P, Munir Alam S. Disruption of the HIV-1 Envelope allosteric network blocks CD4-induced rearrangements. (2020) Nat Commun. Jan 24;11(1):520. PMC6981184.

5. Lu M*, Uchil PD, Li W, Zheng D, Terry DS, Gorman J, Shi W, Zhang B, Zhou T, Ding S, Gasser R, Prévost J, Beaudoin-Bussières G, Anand SP, Laumaea A, Grover JR, Liu L, Ho DD, Mascola JR, Finzi A, Kwong PD, Blanchard SC, Mothes W*.(2020). Real-Time conformational dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spikes on virus particles. Cell Host & Microbe. 28(6):880-891.e8. PMC7664471. (*corresponding author). Featured by 2021 Annual Meeting - Biophysical Society.

6. Lu M*, Ma X, Reichard N, Terry DS, Arthos J, Smith AB III, Sodroski JG, Blanchard SC, Mothes W*. (2020). Shedding-Resistant HIV-1 Envelope Glycoproteins Adopt Downstream Conformations That Remain Responsive to Conformation-Preferring Ligands. J Virol. 94(17):e00597-20. PMC7431789. (*corresponding author).

7. Lu M. (2021). Single-Molecule FRET imaging of virus spike-host interactions. Viruses. 13(2): 332. Invited Review. doi: 10.3390/v13020332. PMC7924862.

8. Ullah I, Prévost J, Ladinsky MS#, Stone H#, Lu M#, Anand SP, Beaudoin-Bussières G, Symmes K, Benlarbi M, Ding S, Gasser R, Fink C, Chen Y, Tauzin A, Goyette G, Bourassa C, Medjahed H, Mack M, Chung K, Wilen CB, Dekaban GA, Dikeakos JD, Bruce EA, Kaufmann DE, Stamatatos L, McGuire AT, Richard J, Pazgier M, Bjorkman PJ, Mothes W, Finzi A, Kumar P, Uchil PD. (2021) Live imaging of SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice reveals that neutralizing antibodies require Fc function for optimal efficacy. Immunity. 14;54(9):2143-2158.e15. PMC8372518. (#contributed equally)

9. Yang Z, Yang Z, Han Y, Ding S, Shi W, Zhou T, Finzi A, Kwong PD, Mothes W, Lu M*. (2022) SARS-CoV-2 Variants Increase Kinetic Stability of Open Spike Conformations as an Evolutionary Strategy. mBio. 13 (1): e03227-21. PMC8844933. (*corresponding author)

10. Ghimire D, Han Y, Lu M*. Structural Plasticity and Immune Evasion of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Variants. (2022). Viruses. 14(6):1255. PMC9229035. (*corresponding author)

11. Li W, Chen Y, Prévost J, Ullah I, Lu M, Gong SY, Tauzin A, Gasser R, Vézina D, Anand SP, Goyette G, Chaterjee D, Ding S, Tolbert WD, Grunst MW, Bo Y, Zhang S, Richard J, Zhou F, Huang RK, Esser L, Zeher A, Côté M, Kumar P, Sodroski J, Xia D, Uchil PD, Pazgier M, Finzi A, Mothes W. (2022) Structural basis and mode of action for two broadly neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 emerging variants of concern. Cell Rep. 38(2):110210. PMCID: PMC8673750.

Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography