Congcong Xu
Associate Professor
E-mail：xucc@suda.edu.cn
Phone：0512-65886182
Biography
Congcong Xu, Ph.D., associate professor at the College of International Pharmaceutical Innovation at Soochow University, sponsoredbyShanghai Pujiang Talent program. HeearnedBachelor's degree in Chemistry from Hunan University and obtained a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from The Ohio State University School of Pharmacy (mentor: Prof. Guo Peixuan). From 2020 to 2023, he served as the headofmRNA platform R&D at a leading mRNA company. In 2023, he was hired as an associate professor at the College of International Pharmaceutical Innovation at Soochow University. Now he is theprincipleinvestigator of a Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan project and a high-level talent scientific research start-up project of Soochow University. He has published nearly 20 papers as a co-author in international journals such as Nature, ACS Nano, Molecular Therapy,etc., and has co-authored two international patents. His primary research focusisnovel RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics.
Research Interests
Discover and engineer RNA-based vaccines/therapeutics:
Ø Novel RNA platforms including self-amplifying mRNA and circular RNA
Ø mRNA cancer vaccines and mRNA-based prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases
Ø Algorithm guided rational design of RNA medicine
Ø Understanding the mechanism of action of RNA therapeutics
Ø Nucleic acid delivery system
Publications
1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Fan T†, Xu C†, 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, ZhongZ, 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.
5. Xu, C., Zhang, L., Wang, W., Tang, Y., Wang, Q., An, J., ... & Li, H. (2023). Improving the Circularization Efficiency, Stability and Translatability of Circular RNA by circDesign. bioRxiv, 2023-07.
6. Zhang, H. †, Zhang, L. †, Lin, A. †,Xu, C. † (co-first author), Li, Z., Liu, K., ... & Huang, L. (2023). Algorithm for optimized mRNA design improves stability and immunogenicity. Nature, 1-3.
7. Fang, Y., Li, J.X., Duangdany, D., Li, Y., Guo, X.L., Phamisith, C., Yu, B., Shen, M.Y., Luo, B., Wang, Y.Z., Liu, S.J., Zhao, F.F., Xu, C., Qiu, X.H., Yan, R., Gui, Y.Z., and Mayxay, Mayfong. et al 2024. Safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of a modified COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, SW-BIC-213, in healthy people aged 18 years and above: a phase 3 double-blinded, randomized, parallel controlled clinical trial in Lao PDR (Laos). eClinicalMedicine, 67.
8. 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.
9. 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
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Zheng Z, Li Z, Xu C, Guo B, Guo P. Folate-displaying exosome mediated cytosolic delivery of siRNA avoiding endosome trapping. J Control Release. 2019Aug22;. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2019.08.021.
13. 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 NanoparticlesTargetingStem Cell Marker CD133. Mol Ther. 2019 Jul 3;27(7):1252-1261. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.04.018.
14. 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.
15. Xu C, Li H, Zhang K, Binzel DW, Yin H, Chiu W, Guo P. Photo-controlled release of paclitaxel and model drugs from RNA pyramids. Nano Res. 2019 Jan;12(1):41-48. doi: 10.1007/s12274-018-2174-x.
16. Xu C, Haque F, Jasinski DL, Binzel DW, Shu D, Guo P. Favorable biodistribution, specific targeting and conditional endosomal escape of RNA nanoparticles in cancer therapy. Cancer Lett. 2018 Feb 1;414:57-70. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2017.09.043.
17. 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.
18. Guo S, Xu C, Yin H, Guo P, Hill J, and Pi F. 2022. Tuning theSize,Shape, andStructureof RNA Nanoparticles forFavorableCancerTargetingand Immunostimulation. RNA Nanotechnology and Therapeutics, pp.543-562.
