Yan Shi of Tsinghua University in China will use single-cell force spectroscopy to detect changes in red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite with the goal of developing methods to target antimalarial drugs specifically to infected cells.
Yuxing Chen of the University of Science and Technology of China will study a protein that is essential for survival for group B streptococcus, bacteria which can infect pregnant women and their newborns. They will characterize this protein and study its potential as both a drug target and vaccine antigen for developing new drugs and vaccines against group B strep.
Xu Tan of Tsinghua University in China will harness the genome-editing power of the CRISPR-Cas9 system to eliminate latent HIV infection and provide a proof-of-concept for a potential cure for HIV infection.
Yu Rao of Tsinghua University in China will develop safe and potent covalent drugs (irreversible inhibitors) against multi-drug-resistant bacteria (MDR bacteria) and elucidate their molecular mechanisms with chemical probes.