1. Biomolecule analysis

Develop new methods for the analysis of biological macromolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins for biological drug analysis, pharmacological research, biosensor construction, etc.

2. Single cell analysis

Develop techniques for the analysis of proteins, nucleic acids, epigenetic markers and other biomolecules in single cells for pharmacological studies, disease mechanism studies, biomarker screening and other related fields.

3. Molecular diagnostic technology

Establish pathogen nucleic acid detection technology, molecular targeted drug concomitant diagnosis technology, and gene point-of-care testing (POCT) for molecular diagnostic kit development.

1. Research Projects

(1) Jiangsu Provincial Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (BK20180005)

(2) National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61871403)

(3) National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31200638)

(4) China Postdoctoral Science Special Foundation (No. 2013T60938)

2. Academic Awards

(1) 2021, First Prize for the Introduction of New Medical Technology in Jiangsu Province, 2/5

(2) 2019, Third Prize for Advanced Science and Technology Award of Jiangsu Province, 2/5

(3) 2018, Second Prize for the Introduction of New Medical Technology in Jiangsu Province, 1/5

(4) 2014, First Prize for Science and technology progress award of Ministry of Education, 4/9

3. Representative Research Achievements

(1) Established a series of nucleic acid detection methods

With flap nucleic acid endonuclease catalyzed invasion reaction as the core technology, we have developed a variety of nucleic acid signal amplification detection technologies, gene mutation visualization detection technologies, nucleic acid digital detection technologies and gene POCT platforms to achieve highly sensitive and specific detection of personalized medicine-related SNP sites, gene mutations and pathogens.

(2) Proposed a novel method of gene editing without sequence restrictions

A new method for sequence-independent gene editing was established using the structure recognition property of flap nucleic acid endonuclease. The method has the advantages of the ability to edit both DNA and RNA, the good stability due to the use of a DNA probe as a guide probe, and being easy to deliver due to the small molecular weight of the enzyme.

(3) Established a new method for rapid in situ analysis of proteins in single cells

We propose a new method, super FastCount, that uses in situ rolling circle amplification (RCA) to generate barcode-specific DNA products and thereby amplify the signal from a single protein molecule; further, this novel method uses electrophoresis instead of a washing step to achieve superfast exchange cycles of the fluorescent probes used to detect the RCA signal. The RCA products offer 220-fold signal amplification and allow the counting of single protein molecules in a cell, avoiding the quantification bias of fluorescence signal integration-based assay. Each probe exchange cycle performed by electrophoresis takes less than 3 min, reducing the time spent in each imaging round by at least 80% compared with buffer-washing-based method. By combining electrophoresis-based fluorescent probes exchange with a sequential colour-coding strategy, we successfully measured eight EMT-relevant proteins in MCF-7 cells by single-molecule counting using 2 rounds of imaging and 3 fluorescent dyes with a total of 8-min probes exchange, indicating that this method has potential for application in studies of cell function and disease marker network.

1. Wu H.; Ma X.; Chu Y.; Qi X.; Zou B.*; Liu Y.*; Zhou G. Anal Chem. 2022, 94, 3858-3864. (IF=8.008)

2. Feng L.; Wu H.; Yue H.; Chu Y.; Zhang J.; Huang X.; Pang S.; Zhang L.; Li Y.; Wang W.*; Zou B.*; Zhou G.* Anal Chem. 2022, 94, 8633-8641. (IF=8.008)

3. Ma Y.; Ma X.; Bu L.; Shan J.; Liu D.; Zhang L.; Qi X.; Chu Y.; Wu H.*; Zou B.*; Zhou G.* Anal Chem. 2022, 94: 14725-14733. (IF=8.008)

4. Pan W.; Wang X.; Ma X.; Chu Y.; Pang S.; Chen Y.; Guan X.; Zou B.*; Wu Y.*; Zhou G.* ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2021, 13 (42): 50309-50318. (IF=10.383)

5. Dong T.; Ma X.; Sheng N.; Qi X.; Chu Y.; Song Q.; Zou B.*, Zhou G*. Sensor Actuat B- Chem. 2021, 327, 128919. (IF=9.221)

6. Weng J.; Sheng N.; Wang R.; Liang S.; Wang C.; Bai X.; Zhou G.*; Zou B.*; Song Q*. Anal Chem. 2021, 93(13), 5529-5536.  (IF=8.008) 

7. Cheng X.; Bao Y.; Liang S.; Li B.; Liu Y.; Wu H.; Ma X.; Chu Y.; Shao Y.; Meng Q.; Zhou G.*; Song Q.*; Zou B.* Anal Chem. 2021, 93(27), 9593-9601. (IF=8.008)

8. Tian K.; Guo Y.; Zou B. (co-fist authors); Wang L.; Zhang Y.; Qi Z.; Zhou J.; Wang X.*; Zhou G.*; Wei L.*; Xu S.* Nucleic Acids Res. 2020, 48 (20): e117. (IF= 16.97)

9. Xiang Z.; Zou B. (co-fist authors); Zhang L.; Ma X.; Qi X.; Wei W.; Song Q.*; Zhou G*. Sensor Actuat B- Chem. 2020, 320, 128362. (IF=7.46)

10. Liu Y.; Wu H.; Zhou Q.; Song Q.; Rui J.; Guan X.; Zhou G.*; Zou B.* Chem Sci, 2018, 9: 1666-1673. (IF=9.556)

Professor Qinxin Song

Postdoctor Chen Wang