#  Xin Zhou 

Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

 

 

 



   ![xin zhou](/sites/g/files/omnuum13191/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/2026-09/Zhou_Xin_picture.jpg?itok=b2Xkq1oZ) 

 



 

 email [xin\_zhou1@dfci.harvard.edu](mailto:xin_zhou1@dfci.harvard.edu) 

 laptop\_windows [Lab Website](https://zhou-lab.org/) 

 laptop\_windows [Publications](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/xin.zhou.8/bibliography/public/) 

 

 



 

Antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, and CAR-T cells have all been successful in leveraging the immune system against disease, but these treatment strategies still have limitations. Our Laboratory employs a protein engineering-centric approach to probe and direct anti-tumor immune responses. We design and engineer dynamic, functional signaling proteins that respond to specific protein post-translational modifications, conformations, or complexes. We hypothesize that these conditionally activated proteins will be able to recognize cancer-specific antigens, report tumor microenvironment characteristics, or help build synthetic cell signaling pathways, and therefore can be harnessed to enact specific anti-tumor responses.

Our research focuses on two high-level questions: (1) How are molecules and signaling networks spatiotemporally regulated within the tumor microenvironment, (2) What designs of biosensors and biomedicines can provide more precise reporting and perturbation of disease-specific signaling. The lab currently works on three interrelated research topics: (1) Building artificial kinases and signaling cascades by evolving phosphotyrosine recognition, (2) Engineering single-domain antibody (sdAb)-based biosensors to interrogate disease signaling dynamics, and (3) Building multi-specific biomolecules that target membrane proteins in a different way than all current immunotherapy strategies. Our ultimate goal is to leverage molecular engineering to gain a deeper fundamental understanding of malignancies and to discover new avenues for therapeutic intervention.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Person Categories
    
     [Faculty](/person-categories/faculty)
- ## Research Area
    
     [Cancer biology](/research-area/cancer-biology) [Immunology and inflammation](/research-area/immunology-and-inflammation) [Protein function, modifications, and regulation](/research-area/protein-function-modifications-and-regulation) [Receptors and signaling](/research-area/receptors-and-signaling) [Synthetic biology / bioengineering](/research-area/synthetic-biology-bioengineering)