Publications

Featured Work

9 papers

  • 1. Jiaming Liang#; Cheng Peng#; Yutong Song; Zheyuan Zhang; Jinfang Yu; Xinquan Wang; Sai Li*. On-virion structural dynamics reveal temperature- and receptor-coordinated activation of an alphacoronavirus spike. Science Advances

  • 2. Zheyuan Zhang#; Cheng Peng#; Weiping Zhang; Jiaming Liang; Kexin Liu; Yong Chen; Junxia Zhang; Rui Liang; Yutong Song; Sai Li*. FlyTomo: a streamlined software for on-the-fly cryo-ET data processing and diagnosis. Nature Communications, 2026, 17:9136

  • 3. Hangping Yao#; Yutong Song#; Qi Huang#; Miaojin Zhu#; Jiaming Liang; Zheyuan Zhang; Xiaodi Zhang; Dongyang Dong; Danrong Shi; Zhigang Wu; Xiangyun Lu; Haibo Wu; Yong Chen; Sai Li*. Cryo-ET of IgG bivalent binding on SARS-CoV-2 provides structural basis for antibody avidity. Nature Communications, 2026, 17(1): 5107

  • 4. Dongyang Dong#; Yutong Song#; Shipo Wu; Busen Wang; Cheng Peng; Weiping Zhang; Weizheng Kong; Zheyuan Zhang; Jingwen Song; Li-Hua Hou; Sai Li*. Molecular basis of Ad5-nCoV vaccine-induced immunogenicity. Structure, 2025, 33(5): 858–868.e5

  • 5. Ye Hong#; Baoying Huang#; Junxia Zhang#; Cheng Peng; Weizheng Kong; Wenjie Tan*; Sai Li*. Molecular architecture of monkeypox mature virus. Cell Discovery, 2024, 10: 108

  • 6. Yutong Song#; Hangping Yao#; Nanping Wu#; Jialu Xu#; Zheyuan Zhang#; Cheng Peng; Shibo Li; Weizheng Kong; Yong Chen; Miaojin Zhu; Jiaqi Wang; Danrong Shi; Chongchong Zhao; Xiangyun Lu; Martín Echavarría Galindo; Sai Li*. In situ architecture and membrane fusion of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. PNAS, 2023, 120(18): e2304603120

  • 7. Ye Hong#; Yutong Song#; Zheyuan Zhang; Sai Li*. Cryo-electron tomography: the resolution revolution and a surge of in situ virological discoveries. Annual Review of Biophysics, 2023, 52: 339–360

  • 8. Sai Li*. Cryo-electron tomography of enveloped viruses. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 2022, 47(2): 173–186

  • 9. Hangping Yao#; Yutong Song#; Yong Chen#; Nanping Wu#; Jialu Xu#; Chujie Sun; Jiaxing Zhang; Tianhao Weng; Zheyuan Zhang; Zhigang Wu; Linfang Cheng; Danrong Shi; Xiangyun Lu; Jianlin Lei; Max Crispin; Yigong Shi; Lanjuan Li*; Sai Li*. Molecular architecture of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Cell, 2020, 183(3): 730–738

Other Work

33 papers

  • 1. Omar Mena; Uroš Šmajdek; Weiping Zhang; Piao Yu; Tobias Klein; Stefan T. Arold; Sai Li; Ivan Viola; Ciril Bohak. CoCryoViS: collaborative online cryo-electron tomography visualization system. Protein Science, 2026, 35: e70679

  • 2. Ruoshi Zhang; Chaoyu Wu; Lvshan Yu; Cheng Peng; Sai Li; Rui Kuai. Low-dose inhalable amino acid-modified multilamellar nanoparticles activate STING for safe and effective regression of lung metastases. Journal of Controlled Release, 2025, 386: 114061

  • 3. Maofei Chen#; Yutong Song#; Sensen Zhang#; Yitang Zhang#; Minghui Zhang; Xin Gao; Sai Li*; Maojun Yang*. Molecular architecture of mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. Protein & Cell, 2025, 16(1): 72–78

  • 4. Lanqing Luo; Junyao Li; Xueying Shen; Xinyan Li; Cheng Peng; Sai Li; Rui Kuai. A bioinspired nanovaccine for personalized cancer immunotherapy. Nano Letters, 2024, 24(49): 15758–15766

  • 5. Jinchao Yu; Xinyan Li; Junyao Li; Nan Sun; Cheng Peng; Jiayi Huang; Sai Li; Rui Kuai. Single-dose physically cross-linked hyaluronic acid and lipid hybrid nanoparticles containing cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate eliminate established tumors. ACS Nano, 2024, 18(43): 29942–29955

  • 6. Jia He; Chaoyu Wang; Xiao Fang; Junyao Li; Xueying Shen; Junxia Zhang; Cheng Peng; Hongjian Li; Sai Li; Jeffrey M. Karp; Rui Kuai. Tuning the fluidity and protein corona of ultrasound-responsive liposomal nanovaccines to program T cell immunity in mice. Nature Communications, 2024, 15: 8121

  • 7. Junyao Li; Lanqing Luo; Jia He; Jinchao Yu; Xinyan Li; Xueying Shen; Junxia Zhang; Sai Li; Jeffrey M. Karp; Rui Kuai. A virus-inspired inhalable liponanogel induces potent antitumor immunity and regression in metastatic lung tumors. Cancer Research, 2024

  • 8. Sai Li; Ming-Yuan Su; Long Li; Tiantian Cai; Zhe Zhang; Yanyan Li. A new generation of structural biologists in China. Structure, 2024, 32(3): 253–257

  • 9. Dali Wang#; Jiaxuan Li#; Lei Wang; Yipeng Cao; Bo Kang; Xiangfei Meng; Sai Li*; Chen Song*. Toward atomistic models of intact SARS-CoV-2 via Martini coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. Quantitative Biology, 2023, 11(4): 421–433

  • 10. Chaoyu Wang; Ruoshi Zhang; Jia He; Lvshan Yu; Xinyan Li; Junxia Zhang; Sai Li; Conggang Zhang; Jonathan C. Kagan; Jeffrey M. Karp; Rui Kuai. Ultrasound-responsive low-dose doxorubicin liposomes trigger mitochondrial DNA release and activate cGAS-STING-mediated antitumour immunity. Nature Communications, 2023, 14: 3877

  • 11. Julio Rey Ramirez; Peter Rautek; Ciril Bohak; Ondřej Strnad; Zheyuan Zhang; Sai Li; Ivan Viola; Wolfgang Heidrich. GPU accelerated 3D tomographic reconstruction and visualization from noisy electron microscopy tilt-series. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2022: 1–15

  • 12. Ngan Nguyen#; Ciril Bohak#; Dominik Engel; Peter Mindek; Ondrej Strnad; Peter Wonka; Sai Li; Timo Ropinski; Ivan Viola. Finding Nano-Ötzi: cryo-electron tomography visualization guided by learned segmentation. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2022, 29(10): 4198–4214

  • 13. Shulin Li; Rui Yan; Jialu Xu; Shiqun Zhao; Xinyu Ma; Qiming Sun; Min Zhang; Ying Li; Jun-Jie Gogo Liu; Liangyi Chen; Sai Li; Ke Xu; Liang Ge. A new type of ERGIC-ERES membrane contact mediated by TMED9 and SEC12 is required for autophagosome biogenesis. Cell Research, 2022, 32(2): 119–138

  • 14. Joel D. Allen; Himanshi Chawla; Firdaus Samsudin; Lorena Zuzic; Aishwary Tukaram Shivgan; Yasunori Watanabe; Wan-ting He; Sean Callaghan; Ge Song; Peter Yong; Philip Brouwer; Yutong Song; Yongfei Cai; Helen M. E. Duyvesteyn; Tomas Malinauskas; Joeri Kint; Paco Pino; Maria J. Wurm; Martin Frank; Bing Chen; David I. Stuart; Rogier W. Sanders; Raiees Andrabi; Dennis R. Burton; Sai Li; Peter J. Bond*; Max Crispin*. Site-specific steric control of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycosylation. Biochemistry, 2021, 60(27): 2153–2169

    • Cover story

  • 15. Xiaohui Ju; Yunkai Zhu; Yuyan Wang; Jingrui Li; Jiaxing Zhang; Mingli Gong; Wenlin Ren; Sai Li; Jin Zhong; Qiangfeng Cliff Zhang; Rong Zhang; Qiang Ding. A novel cell culture system modeling the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle. PLoS Pathogens, 2021, 17(3): e1009439

  • 16. Alexandra Serris; Robert Stass; Eduardo A. Bignon; Nicolas A. Muena; Jean-Claude Manuguerra; Rohit K. Jangra; Sai Li; Kartik Chandran; Nicole Tischler; Juha T. Huiskonen; Felix A. Rey*; Pablo Guardado-Calvo*. The hantavirus surface glycoprotein lattice and its fusion control mechanism. Cell, 2020, 183(2): 442–456

  • 17. Ying Liu#; Yutong Song#; Siyu Zhang; Min Diao; Shanjin Huang; Sai Li; Xu Tan. PSGL-1 inhibits HIV-1 infection by restricting actin dynamics and sequestering HIV envelope proteins. Cell Discovery, 2020, 6(1): 53

  • 18. Yanqing Zhang#; Sai Li#; Xuechen Zhu#; Gaoxingyu Huang#; Chao Zeng#; Qifan Wang; Kunpeng Wang; Qiang Zhou; Wusheng Zhang; Guangwen Yang; Minhao Liu; Qinghua Tao; Jianlin Lei; Yigong Shi. Molecular architecture of the luminal ring of the Xenopus laevis nuclear pore complex. Cell Research, 2020, 30(6): 532–540

    • F1000 recommended
    • Cover story

  • 19. Xiaoling Wu; Hua Yue; Yuanyu Zhang; Xiaoyong Gao; Xiaoyang Li; Licheng Wang; Yufei Cao; Miao Hou; Haixia An; Lin Zhang*; Sai Li*; Jingyuan Ma; He Lin; Yanan Fu; Hongkai Gu; Wenyong Lou; Wei Wei*; Richard N. Zare; Jun Ge*. Packaging and delivering enzymes by amorphous metal-organic frameworks. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 5165

  • 20. Kamel El Omari; Sai Li; Abhay Kotecha; Thomas S. Walter; Eduardo Andres Bignon; Karl Harlos; Pentti Somerharju; Felix De Haas; Daniel K. Clare; Mika Molin; Felipe Hurtado; Mengqiu Li; Jonathan M. Grimes; Dennis H. Bamford; Nicole D. Tischler; Juha T. Huiskonen; David I. Stuart; Elina Roine. The structure of a prokaryotic viral envelope protein expands the landscape of membrane fusion proteins. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 846

  • 21. Yasunori Watanabe; Jayna Raghwani; Joel D. Allen; Gemma E. Seabright; Sai Li; Felipe Moser; Juha T. Huiskonen; Thomas Strecker; Thomas A. Bowden; Max Crispin. Structure of the Lassa virus glycan shield provides a model for immunological resistance. PNAS, 2018, 115(28): 7320–7325

  • 22. Steinar Halldorsson#; Sai Li#; Mengqiu Li; Karl Harlos; Thomas A. Bowden; Juha T. Huiskonen. Shielding and activation of a viral membrane fusion protein. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 349

  • 23. Ilona Rissanen; Robert Stass; Antra Zeltina; Sai Li; Jussi Hepojoki; Karl Harlos; Robert J. C. Gilbert; Juha T. Huiskonen; Thomas A. Bowden. Structural transitions of the conserved and metastable hantaviral glycoprotein envelope. Journal of Virology, 2017, 91(21): e00378-17

  • 24. Sai Li; Ilona Rissanen; Antra Zeltina; Jussi Hepojoki; Jayna Raghwani; Karl Harlos; Oliver G. Pybus; Juha T. Huiskonen; Thomas A. Bowden. A molecular-level account of the antigenic hantaviral surface. Cell Reports, 2016, 15(5): 959–967

  • 25. Sai Li; Zhaoyang Sun; Rhys Pryce; Marie-Laure Parsy; Sarah K. Fehling; Katrin Schlie; C. Alistair Siebert; Wolfgang Garten; Thomas A. Bowden; Thomas Strecker; Juha T. Huiskonen. Acidic pH-induced conformations and LAMP1 binding of the Lassa virus glycoprotein spike. PLoS Pathogens, 2016, 12(2): e1005418

  • 26. Juha T. Huiskonen; Marie-Laure Parsy; Sai Li; David Bitto; Max Renner; Thomas A. Bowden. Averaging of viral envelope glycoprotein spikes from electron cryotomography reconstructions using Jsubtomo. JoVE — Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2014, (92): e51714

  • 27. Sai Li#; Christian Sieben#; Kai Ludwig; Chris T. Höfer; Salvatore Chiantia; Andreas Herrmann; Frederic Eghiaian; Iwan A. T. Schaap. pH-controlled two-step uncoating of influenza virus. Biophysical Journal, 2014, 106(7): 1447–1456

  • 28. Eberhard Wuenn; Joerg Hosch; Sai Li; Iwan A. T. Schaap; Tobias Schleuss. Super hydrophobic PES membrane and its application in biomedical industry. Procedia Engineering, 2012, 44: 449–450

  • 29. Schanila Nawaz; Paula Sánchez; Kai Bodensiek; Sai Li; Mikael Simons; Iwan A. T. Schaap. Cell visco-elasticity measured with AFM and optical trapping at sub-micrometer deformations. PLoS One, 2012, 7(9): e45297

  • 30. Ursula Fünfschilling; Wolf J. Jockusch; Nandhini Sivakumar; Wiebke Möbius; Kristina Corthals; Sai Li; Susanne Quintes; Younghoon Kim; Iwan A. T. Schaap; Jeong-Seop Rhee; Klaus-Armin Nave; Gesine Saher. Critical time window of neuronal cholesterol synthesis during neurite outgrowth. Journal of Neuroscience, 2012, 32(22): 7632–7645

  • 31. Sai Li; Frederic Eghiaian; Christian Sieben; Andreas Herrmann; Iwan A. T. Schaap. Bending and puncturing the influenza lipid envelope. Biophysical Journal, 2011, 100(3): 637–645

  • 32. Felix Hoos; Todd Meyrath; Sai Li; Bernd Braun; Harald Giessen. Femtosecond 5-W Yb:KGW slab laser oscillator pumped by a single broad-area diode and its application as supercontinuum source. Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, 2009, 96(1): 5–10

  • 33. Felix Hoos; Sai Li; Todd Meyrath; Bernd Braun; Harald Giessen. Thermal lensing in an end-pumped Yb:KGW slab laser with high power single emitter diodes. Optics Express, 2008, 16(9): 6041–6049

Publication in Chinese, Preprints & Under Review

5 items

  • 1. Ye Hong; Shiyuan Liu; Rui Liang; Keren Wang; Junxia Zhang; Cheng Peng; Zefeng Zhu; Zheyuan Zhang; Weiping Zhang; Baoying Huang; Chen Song; Wenjie Tan; Sai Li*. Architecture of a portal complex embedded in the poxvirus core. bioRxiv, 2026  ·  10.64898/2026.06.09.730874

  • 2. Yong Chen#; Zheyuan Zhang#; Zhirui Zhao; Hanguang Liu; Haifan Zhao; Rui Liang; Cheng Peng; Jialu Xu; Yutong Song; Xu Tan; Sai Li*. A dynamic oligomerization network coordinates hemagglutinin-mediated membrane fusion on influenza virions. bioRxiv, 2026  ·  10.64898/2026.03.23.713829

  • 3. 陈勇#; 张俊霞#; 江轶; 李赛. 新冠病毒感染机制的透射电镜研究评述. 实验技术与管理, 2021, 38: 1–9  ·  10.16791/j.cnki.sjg.2021.12.001

  • 4. 张佳星; 陈勇; 李赛. 冷冻电镜断层成像技术破解重构新冠病毒全分子结构难题. 电子显微学报, 2020, 39: 787–789  ·  10.3969/j.issn.1000-6281.2020.06.021

  • 5. Paul Miller; Simonas Masiulis; Tomas Malinauskas; Abhay Kotecha; Shanlin Rao; Sreenivas Chavali; Luigi De Colibus; Els Pardon; Saad Hannan; Suzanne Scott; Zhaoyang Sun; Brandon Frenz; Gianni Kleese; Sai Li; Jonathan Diprose; Alistair Siebert; Robert Esnouf; Frank DiMaio; Stephen Tucker; Trevor Smart; Jan Steyaert; M. Madan Babu; Mark Sansom; Juha Huiskonen; Alexandru Aricescu. Heteromeric GABAA receptor structures in positively modulated active-states. bioRxiv, 2019  ·  10.1101/338343

Conferences

4 items

  • 1. Peter Mindek; Ivan Viola; Ondrej Strnad; Ciril Bohak; Sai Li; Tobias Klein. What does a virus actually look like? SIGGRAPH '21: ACM SIGGRAPH 2021 Computer Animation Festival, , page 1  ·  10.1145/3446562.3458551

  • 2. Sai Li; Frederic Eghiaian; Iwan A. T. Schaap. Mechanics of lipid bilayers of high curvature. Biophysical Journal — BIOPHYS J, , 98(3): 592a–593a  ·  10.1016/j.bpj.2009.12.3224

  • 3. Felix Hoos; Todd Meyrath; Sai Li; Bernd Braun; Harald Giessen. Highly efficient 4 W, 161 fs, Yb:KGW laser oscillator. Lasers and Electro-Optics 2009 and the European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO Europe — EQEC 2009), , page CA7_3  ·  10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2009.5194645

  • 4. Felix Hoos; Todd Meyrath; Sai Li; Bernd Braun; Harald Giessen. Efficient and simple high-power femtosecond Yb:KGW slab-laser pumped by a single broad-area emitter diode. Advanced Solid-State Photonics, , page MB13  ·  10.1364/ASSP.2009.MB13