Congcong Xu
Associate Professor
E-mail：xucc@suda.edu.cn
Phone：0512-65886182
Biography
Congcong Xu, Ph.D. is a Young Distinguished Professor at the International Institute of Innovative Medicines, Soochow University. He is a recipient of the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program (Magnolia Talent Program) and the Jiangsu Provincial Young Science and Technology Talent Support Program.
Dr. Xu received his B.S. in Chemistry from Hunan University and earned his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the College of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University, under the supervision of Prof. Peixuan Guo, Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors.
From 2020 to 2023, he served as Head of the mRNA Platform at a leading mRNA biotechnology company. During this period, he co-developed the AI-driven mRNA design algorithm LinearDesign in collaboration with Baidu Research, which was published in Nature (2023). He also developed an AI-based circular RNA design platform, circDesign. His translational work advanced multiple mRNA vaccines and therapeutics into clinical development, including a personalized cancer vaccine published in Science Advances (2024) and a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine program that progressed into overseas clinical trials.
In 2023, Dr. Xu joined Soochow University as a Young Distinguished Professor. He currently serves as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on multiple competitive funding programs, including National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Regional Joint Key Projects, NSFC Joint Funds for Innovative Development of Private Enterprises, the Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars, projects supported by the National Health Commission Party School, the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan, the Suzhou Municipal Medical and Health Innovation Program, and high-level talent research programs at Soochow University.
To date, he has published multiple peer-reviewed articles as (co-)first or corresponding author in leading journals, including Nature, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Science Advances, Nano Today, Journal of Controlled Release, Nano Research, and Cancer Letters. He holds five granted international patents and has filed six Chinese invention patents related to RNA therapeutics.
Research Interests
1) Discovery and engineering of next-generation RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics
2) Development and engineering of novel RNA platforms, including self-amplifying mRNA (saRNA) and circular RNA (circRNA).
3) mRNA therapeutic development and mechanistic studies targeting neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
4) Artificial intelligence–guided mRNA sequence optimization and rational design.
5) Development of delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics and investigation of targeting mechanisms.
Ongoing Research Projects
1) Jiangsu Provincial Major S&T Special Project (“Innovative Biologics”), Subproject Leader (2026–2029)
2) Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars, Principal Investigator (2025–2028)
3) NSFC Regional Joint Innovation Fund Project, Key Participant (2026–2029)
4) NSFC Joint Fund for Innovative Development of Private Enterprises, Subproject Leader (2026–2029)
5) Jiangsu Provincial Major S&T Special Project (“Innovative Biologics”), Key Participant (2026–2029)
6) Suzhou Key Technology Program (Medical and Health Innovation), Principal Investigator (2025–2027)
7) Jiangsu Young Science and Technology Talent Support Program, Principal Investigator (2025–2027)
8) National Health Commission Party School Program on Chronic Disease Management, Principal Investigator (2025–2027)
9) Industry-sponsored project: Kidney-targeted small nucleic acid delivery technologies (Hangzhou Dingle Xinwei Biotechnology Co., Ltd.), Principal Investigator (2025–2027)
10) Industry-sponsored project: In vivo CAR nucleic acid delivery technologies (Suzhou Beilun Biotechnology Co., Ltd.), Principal Investigator (2026–2027)
11) Industry-sponsored project: Targeted protein degradation circular RNA therapeutics for glioma (Nanjing Ningdan Innovative Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd.), Principal Investigator (2026–2027)
Selected Publications
1. Shi T, Li Y, Deng C, Ren Q, Xu C*, Zhong Z*. In vivo nano-engineering T cells for CAR-T therapy. J Control Release. 2025 Nov 1:114379. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2025.114379. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41183575
2. Ye, R., Ren, Q., Chang, L., Zhang, S., Deng, C., Cao, L., Shi, M., Lou, B., Meng, F., Du, S., Ren, K., Piao, X., Xu, C.*, Zhong, Z.* Administration route-commended concise organ-selective mRNA transfection (ACCOST) by cyclic disulfide-primed short polyethylenimine. Nano Today, 2025 Aug; (63)102741
3. Ren, Q., Zhao, X., Zhou, L., Meng, F., Deng, C., Meng, F., Zhou, F., Xu, C.*, Zhong, Z.* Monocyte-Driven Lymph Node Targeting of mRNA Cancer Vaccines via Transferrin Receptor Associating Polyplexes (TRAP). Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2026 In press
4. Binzel, D. #, Xu, C.# (co-first author), Binzel, K., Ghosh, A., Pippin, A., Li, X., Sechi, M., Knopp, M., Kumar, K., Guo, P.* RNA Nanoparticles Harboring Radioisotopes or Other Imaging Molecules for Spontaneous Tumor Targeting for Early Cancer Diagnosis. RNA Nanomed, 2025 Aug 4; 2(1)
5. Xu, C. #, Chen, R., Pu,C., Wang, W., Tang, Y., Wang, Q., An, J., ... & Zhang, L.. (2025). circDesign Algorithm for Designing Synthetic Circular RNA. bioRxiv, 2025 April.
6. Fan T#, Xu C# (co-first author), Wu J#, Cai, Y, Cao W, Shen H, Zhang M, Zhu H, Yang J, Zhu Z, Ma X, Ren J, Huang L, Li Q, Tang Y, Yu B, Chen C, Xu M, Wang Q, Xu Z, Chen F, Liang S, Zhong Z, Jamroze A, Tang DG, Li H, Dong C. Lipopolyplex-formulated mRNA cancer vaccine elicits strong neoantigen-specific T cell responses and antitumor activity. Sci Adv. 2024 Oct 11;10(41):eadn9961. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn9961.
7. Cui G, Shao Y, Wang J, Xu C*, Jinping Zhang*, Zhiyuan Zhong*, Polymersome-mediated Cbl-b silencing activates T cells against solid tumors. Biomater. Sci., 2025, doi:10.1039/D5BM00001G
6. Ye, Z., Xu, C., Zhang, Y., Zhao, Y., Xu, C.* Targeted protein degraders based on biomacromolecules: current progress and challenges. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica, 2025, 60(11): 3309-3317.
7. Xu C, Yin H, Yudhistira T, Li Z, Binzel D,*Guo P*, Conversion of Chemical Drugs into Targeting Ligands on RNA Nanoparticles and Assessing Payload Stoichiometry for Optimal Biodistribution in Cancer Treatment. RNA NanoMed, 2024, (1) 109-123. doi:10.59566/ISRNN.2024.0101109.
8. Zhang, H.#, Zhang, L.#, Lin, A. #, Xu, C. # (co-first author), Li, Z., Liu, K., ... & Huang, L. Algorithm for optimized mRNA design improves stability and immunogenicity. Nature, 2023, 1-3.
9. Yi Fang, Jing-Xin Li, Davone Duangdany, Yang Li, Xi-Lin Guo, Chanthala Phamisith, Ming-Yun Shen, Bo Yu, Bin Luo, Yu-Zhu Wang, Si-Jun Liu, Fan-Fan Zhao, Cong-Cong Xu, Xu-Hui Qiu, Rong-Juan Pei, Jie Wang, Haifa Shen, Wu-Xiang Guan, Hang-Wen Li, Mayfong Mayxay, Safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of a modified COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, SW-BIC-213, in healthy people aged 18 years and above: interim report of a Phase 3 double-blinded, randomized, parallel controlled clinical trial in Lao PDR (Laos). EClinicalMedicine. 2023 Dec 13;67:102372. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102372.
10. Carcache PJ, Guo S, Li H, Zhang K, Xu C, Chiu W, Guo P. Regulation of reversible conformational change, size switching, and immunomodulation of RNA nanocubes. RNA. 2021 Sep 1;27(9):971-80.
11. Guo S., Xu C., Yin H., Hill J., Pi F., Guo P. (2019). Tuning the size, shape and structure of RNA nanoparticles for favorable cancer targeting and immunostimulation. WIREs Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology, 2019 Aug 27:e1582. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1582
12. Xu, C., Zhang, K., Yin, H., Li, Z., Krasnoslobodtsev, A., Zheng, Z., Ji, Z., Guo, S., Li, S., Chiu, W. and Guo, P., 2020. 3D RNA nanocage for encapsulation and shielding of hydrophobic biomolecules to improve the in vivo biodistribution. Nano Research, 13(12), pp.3241-3247.
13. Chen, Y., Li, J., Duangdany, D., Phamisith, C., Yu, B., Lan, S., Jin, L., Lv, D., Li, Y., Luo, B., Han, P., Wu, J., Wang, Y., Xu, C., Shen, M., Zhao, F., Liu, P., Pei, R., Shen, H., Guan, W., Li, H., Mayxay, M., Safety and Immunogenicity of SW-BIC-213, a Modified COVID-19 Lipo-Polyplex Mrna Vaccine, in Laotian Healthy Adults Aged 18 Years and Above: a Phase 1/2 Trial, Openalex, 2023
14. Xu C., Wang H., Yin H., Sechi M., Li Z., Kumar K., Tweedle M., Knopp M., Guo P. 2022. Small Molecule Conjugated RNA Nanoparticles for PET Imaging-guided Prostate Cancer Therapy, Under Submission.
15. Ghimire C, Wang H, Li H, Vieweger M, Xu C, Guo P. RNA nanoparticles as rubber for compelling vessel extravasation to enhance tumor targeting and for fast renal excretion to reduce toxicity. ACS Nano. 2020 Sep 9;14(10):13180-91.
16. Li H., Wang S., Ji Z., Xu C., Shlyakhtenko L.S. and Guo P., Construction of RNA nanotubes. 2019. Nano Research, 12(8), pp.1952-1958.
17. Zheng Z, Li Z, Xu C, Guo B, Guo P. Folate-displaying exosome mediated cytosolic delivery of siRNA avoiding endosome trapping. J Control Release. 2019 Aug 22;. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2019.08.021.
18. Yin H, Xiong G, Guo S, Xu C, Xu R, Guo P, Shu D. Delivery of Anti-miRNA for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Therapy Using RNA Nanoparticles Targeting Stem Cell Marker CD133. Mol Ther. 2019 Jul 3;27(7):1252-1261. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.04.018.
19. Xu Y, Pang L, Wang H, Xu C, Shah H, Guo P, Shu D, Qian SY. Specific delivery of delta-5-desaturase siRNA via RNA nanoparticles supplemented with dihomo-γ-linolenic acid for colon cancer suppression. Redox Biol. 2019 Feb;21:101085. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2018.101085.
20. Haque F†, Xu C†, Jasinski DL, Li H, Guo P. († Contributed equally) Using Planar Phi29 pRNA Three-Way Junction to Control Size and Shape of RNA Nanoparticles for Biodistribution Profiling in Mice. Methods Mol Biol. 2017;1632:359-380. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7138-1_23.
21. Guo S, Xu C, Yin H, Guo P, Hill J, and Pi F. 2022. Tuning the Size, Shape, and Structure of RNA Nanoparticles for Favorable Cancer Targeting and Immunostimulation. RNA Nanotechnology and Therapeutics, pp.543-562.
22. Li W, Yang X, He L, Wang K, Wang Q, Huang J, Liu J, Wu B, Xu C. Self-Assembled DNA Nanocentipede as Multivalent Drug Carrier for Targeted Delivery. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Oct 5;8(39):25733-25740. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b08210.
We are hiring：
The laboratory welcomes highly motivated students and postdoctoral fellows who are passionate about scientific research and have a strong interest in RNA therapeutics. We invite applicants to join us in advancing early-stage research and translational applications in RNA drug delivery and therapeutic design.
Please send your CV, along with your name and the position you are applying for, to xucc@suda.edu.cn
