Dr. Ye received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Zhejiang University in 2015 and started his postdoctoral training at Zhejiang University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2017, he joined Dr. Sidi Chen’s lab at Yale University School of Medicine for his postdoctoral training and was promoted to Associate Research Scientist in July 2021. In 2022 Dr. Ye joined Nanjing University Institute of Modern Biology as a Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator.
Dr. Ye’s research focuses on developing and applying genome editing and high-throughput screening technologies to identify new targets for advancing cancer immunotherapy. He co-pioneered the first CRISPR screen in mouse CD8 T cells (Cell 2019) and discovered Dhx37 as a promising immune target for enhancing T cell anti-tumor activity. Dr. Ye also developed a brand-new gene editing system: the adeno-associated virus (AAV)-transposon-CRISPR system. This system has overcome the technological limitations of current gene editing tools for engineering primary immune cells and other hard-to-gene-edit cell types (Nature Biotechnology 2019). By using this system, he has identified several promising membrane targets, such as Pdia3, Mgat5, and Calhm2 that could enhance CAR-T and CAR-NK therapies for various cancers (Nature Biotechnology 2019, 2024). Other unpublished cell membrane targets discovered using his new platform have been licensed by EvolveImmune Therapeutics, a company that focuses on development of novel immune-based therapeutics. Dr. Ye also developed a novel immune cell engineering technology called MAJESTIC (mRNA AAV-Sleeping-Beauty Joint Engineering of Stable Therapeutic Immune Cells) (Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2023. Cover Article). By using this technology, we can deliver transgenes to engineer CAR-Ts and other cancer-fighting immune cells (e.g., CAR-NKs) more efficiently and with lower cellular toxicity and genotoxicity. Dr. Ye established the first gain-of-function screening platform in primary T cells and used this platform to identify Prodh2 (proline dehydrogenase) as a powerful metabolic booster that can efficiently enhance T cell anti-tumor activity (Cell Metabolism, 2022). He and his colleagues performed unbiased CRISPR-Cpf1-mediated double knockout screens to identify metastasis regulators (Nature Methods 2019) and established a platform for interrogating genetic interactions between cancer mutations and immune resistance pathways (Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2022). Lastly, Dr. Ye pioneered a study in reprogramming DNA repair pathways to enhance homology-directed repair (HDR) efficiency (Cell Discovery 2018).
To date, Dr. Ye has published more than 30 papers including in prestigious journals such as Cell, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering (Cover story), Cell Metabolism, Nature Methods, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, Cancer Immunology Research, and Cell Discovery. Some of these articles were recommended or highlighted by Faculty 1000, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Cancer, Cancer Discovery, ScienceDaily, MIT Technology Review China, Yale News, Yale Scientific Magazine, Fierce Biotech, EurekAlertAAAS, Health Canal, Medical Xpress, Phys.Org, Environmental News Network, China Science Daily, etc. He is a co-inventor on over ten patents including four international patents, some of which have attracted industry attention and were licensed. Dr. Ye actively participates in peer review for journals including Immunity, Cell Metabolism, Cell Discovery, Molecular Therapy, and Theranostics etc. He also serves as an Associate Editor and Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers in Genome Editing and Frontiers in Genetics.
Ye Lab - Nanjing University 