ProfessorXiaodong Zhang, FRS

Xiaodong Zhang studied Nuclear Physics in Peking University, China, and then pursued a PhD in Physics at Stony Brook University in the United States, where she carried out her research at Brookhaven National Laboratory developing X-ray microscopy with chemical contrast. After earning her PhD, she transitioned to structural biology, undertaking postdoctoral training in X-ray crystallography at Harvard University. In 1997, she moved to the UK and joined Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now part of Francis Crick Institute) as a postdoctoral researcher. She became a lecturer at Imperial College London in 2001, was promoted to Reader in 2005 and Professor of Macromolecular Structure and Function in 2008. She served as Director of Imperial College Centre for Structural Biology between 2011 and 2014. In 2014, she moved to the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London to help establishing the Section of Structural and Synthetic Biology. She has recently been seconded to the Francis Crick Institute. Her current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of molecular machines, particularly those involved in DNA processing, such as the transcription machinery and DNA damage signalling and repair.

Xiaodong is the recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, the Wellcome Trust Investigator Award and the Wellcome Trust Discovery Award.  She was elected to the Royal Society of Biology in 2011, European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2016 and as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2024.

Mini CV 
1988 - B.Sc. in Physics, Peking University, China
1995 - Ph.D. in Physics, SUNY @ Stony Brook, USA
1995 - 1997 postdoctoral fellow, Harvard University
1997 - 2000 postdoctoral Fellow, Cancer Research UK
2001 - 2005 Lecturer, Imperial College London
2005 - 2008 Reader, Imperial College London
2008 - 2014, Professor of Macromolecular Structure and Function, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London
2014 - present, Professor, Section of Structural Biology, Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London
2011 - 2014, Director, Centre for Structural Biology, Imperial College london
2019 - 2023, Satellite Group Leader, Francis Crick Institute
2023 - present, Secondment Group Leader, Francis Crick Institute

Research
Please visit Structural Biology Section website

My research programme focuses on unravelling the mechanisms of macromolecular machines using a range of structural biology techniques including X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. I am particularly interested in large macromolecular assemblies invovled in DNA processing as well as the AAA (ATPase Associated with diverse cellular Activities) protein family. At present my research focuses on three main areas: key components in DNA damage response, transcriptional regulation in bacteria, structrue and mechanism of multifunctional p97.

Structures and Mechanisms of key components in the DNA damage response- DNA is exposed to toxic chemicals, UV and other radiation and consequently tens of thousands of DNA bases are damaged each day in every human cell. Cells have developed sophisticated systems using multi-subunit macromolecular complexes to detect, process and repair this damage in a highly controlled and coordinated fashion. We are currently using a multi-disciplinary approach to provide a molecular understanding of some of the key events including signaling, chromatin remodeling and DNA damage repair itself.

Transcription regulation - One of my main research areas is to understand the transcription regulation, in particular the activation/initiation process. We use the bacterial sigma54 dependent system as a simplified model system to establish the structural basis for the transcription initiation, in particular how double stranded DNA is melted out and template strand delivered into the activate site of RNA polymerase. We are also interested in how this process is controlled by the activator proteins belonging to the large AAA ATPase family and how these activators are regulated by upstream cellular signals. This project is in collaboration with Prof. Martin Buck FRS, Imperial College.

Selected recent publications

Carver A, Yu TY, Yates LA, White T, Wang R, Lister K, Jasin M, Zhang X (2025). “Molecular basis of FIGNL1 in dissociating RAD51 from DNA and chromatin”. Science 387(6732), 426-431, eadr7920.

Yates LA, Tannous EA, Morgan RM, Burgers PM, Zhang X (2023). “A DNA damage-induced phosphorylation circuit enhances Mec1ATR-Ddc2ATRIP recruitment to Replication Protein A. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 120(14):e2300150120.

Ye F, Gao F, Liu X, Buck M and Zhang X (2022). “Mechanisms of DNA opening revealed in AAA transcription complex structure”. Science Advances,8(51):eadd3479.

Tannous EA#, Yates LA#, Zhang X* and Burgers PM* (2021) “Mechanism of Auto-inhibition and Activation of Mec1ATR Checkpoint Kinase”. Nat Struct Mol Biol, 28(1):50-61.

Yates LA, Aramayo RJ, Pokhrel N, Caldwell CC, Kaplan JA, Perera RL, Spies M, Antony E, Zhang X (2018). "A structural and dynamic model for the assembly of Replication Protein A on single-stranded DNA". Nat Commun. 9(1):5447.

Ayala R, Willhoft O, Aramayo RJ, Wilkinson M, McCormack EA, Ocloo L, Wigley DB, Zhang X(2018). “Structure and regulation of the human INO80-nucleosome complex”. Nature. 556(7701):391-395.

Glyde R, Ye F, Jovanovic M, Kotta-Loizou I, Buck M and Zhang X (2018). "Structures of Bacterial RNA Polymerase Complexes Reveal the Mechanism of DNA Loading and Transcription Initiation". Mol Cell. 70(6):1111-1120.

Aramayo RJ, Willhoft O, Ayala R, Bythell-Douglas R, Wigley DB and Zhang X (2018). "Cryo-EM structures of the human INO80 chromatin-remodelling complex". Nat. Struct. Mol Biol. 25(1):37-44

Glyde R, Ye F, Darbari VC, Zhang N, Buck M and Zhang X (2017). “Structures of RNA Polymerase Closed and Intermediate Complexes Reveal Mechanisms of DNA Opening and Transcription Initiation”. Mol Cell. 67(1):106-116

Yang Y, Darbari VC, Zhang N, Lu D, Glyde R, Wang YP, Winkelman JT, Gourse RL, Murakami KS, Buck M, Zhang X (2015). "Structures of the RNA polymerase-s54 reveal new and conserved regulatory strategies". Science, 349:882-885

Shahid T, Soroka J, Kong EH, Malivert L, McIlwraith MJ, Pape T, West SC, Zhang X (2014) " Structure and mechanism of action of the BRCA2 breast cancer tumor suppressor". Nat. Struct Mol Biol doi: 10.1038/nsmb.2899

Further Information

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (2024)

Elected Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (2016)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2011)
Royal Society Wolfson Merit Research Award (2011)
Human Frontier Science Programme Young Investigator Award (2002-2005)
First Recipient of Gertrude Goldhabor Women in Physics Award (1993)


PEOPLE

Current members

Visiting scientist

Luke Yates, Luke.yates@imperial.ac.uk

Postdoctoral researchers

Lucas Kuhlen, l.kuhlen@imperial.ac.uk

Jie Zhang, jie.zhang@imperial.ac.uk

Bowen Zhang, bowen.zhang16@imperial.ac.uk

Zhaoning Wang, zhaoning.wang@crick.ac.uk

Niranjan Kumar, niranjan.kumar@imperial.ac.uk

Malitha Ratnaweera, malitha.ratnaweera@crick.ac.uk

Eric Chih-Chao Liang, eric.liang@crick.ac.uk

Research Technician

Megan Battley, m.battley@imperial.ac.uk

PhD student

Pengtao Liang, pentao.liang@imperial.ac.uk