Dr. ZHANG Na's laboratory 

Biography & Introduction

ZHANG Na

Na Zhang received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Chemistry Department of Nankai University in 1989, his M.S. degree in organic synthesis from Chemistry Department of Brigham Young University in 1999, and his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry & structural biology from Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 2005. Subsequently he pursued a two-year postdoc as a research fellow at the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology , Harvard Medical School and then a four-year HHMI postdoc as a research associate at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. Following his postdoctoral work, in February 2012, Na joined High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, as an associate professor and was promoted to a full professor a year later.

During his Ph.D. study and postdoctoral work, Na has been applying NMR to identify the interactions between carcinogenic small molecules binding with DNA/RNA; to solve 3D structures of DNA-drug complex and the higher order DNA architectures of G-quadruplex formed by guanine-rich sequences, including the fragment of human telomeric DNA repeats; and to characterize the self-chemical replication of nucleic acid systems which function as a key component of a primitive cell in origin of life.

Research

Selected Publications

1. Fu WQ, Jing HT, Zhang N. Two coexisting pseudo-mirror heteromolecular telomeric G-quadruplexes in opposite loop progressions differentially recognized by a low equivalent of Thioflavin T. Nucleic Acids Res. (2021) 49(18), p10717-10734.  
2. Jing HT, Fu WQ, Zhang N. NMR structural study on the self-trimerization of d(GTTAGG) into a dynamic trimolecular G-quadruplex assembly preferentially in Na+ solution with a moderate K+ tolerance. Nucleic Acids Res. (2021) 49(4), p2306-2316. 
3. Wan CJ, Fu WQ, Jing HT, Zhang N. NMR solution structure of an asymmetric intermolecular leaped V-shape G-quadruplex: selective recognition of the d(G2NG3NG4) sequence motif by a short linear G-rich DNA probe. Nucleic Acids Res. (2018) 47(3), p1544-1556 
4. Zhang N, Phan A, Patel D. (3+1) assembly of three human telomeric DNA repeats into an asymmetrical dimeric G-quadruplex. J Am Chem Soc. (2005) 127, p17277-17285. 
5. Zhang N, Zhang SL, Szostak JW. Activated ribonucleotides undergo a sugar pucker switch upon binding to a single-stranded RNA template. J Am Chem Soc. (2012) 134, p3691-3694. 
6. Zhang S, Zhang N, Blain JC, Szostak JW. Synthesis of N3′-P5′-linked Phosphoramidate DNA by Nonenzymatic Template-Directed Primer Extension. J Am Chem Soc. (2013), 135, p924-932. 
7. Trevino S, Zhang N, Elenko M, Lupt k A, Szostak JW. Evolution of functional nucleic acids in the presence of nonheritable backbone heterogeneity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2011) 108, p13492-13497. 
8. Zhang N, Ding S, Kolbanovskiy A, Shastry A, Kuzmin VA, Bolton JL, Patel DJ, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. NMR and computational studies of stereoisomeric equine estrogen-derived DNA cytidine adducts in oligonucleotide duplexes: opposite orientations of diastereomeric forms. Biochemistry (2009) 48, p7098-7109. 
9. Zhang N, Lin Y, Xiao Z, Jones GB, Goldberg IH. Solution structure of a designed spirocyclic helical ligand binding at a two-base bulge site in DNA. Biochemistry (2007) 46, p4793-4803.