Publications

2026

1. Cell

   

   LUMI-lab: A foundation model-driven autonomous platform enabling discovery of ionizable lipid designs for mRNA delivery

   Yue Xu^*, Haotian Cui^*, Kuan Pang, Gen Li, Fanglin Gong, Songtao Dong, Bo Wang^#, and Bowen Li^#

   Cell, 2026

   Video Website
2. Nat. Mater.

   

   Biodegradable ionizable lipid nanoparticles for efficient mRNA delivery to the lung

   Fanglin Gong^*, Yue Xu^*, Jingan Chen, Siyang Zhang, Breanna Seto, Songtao Dong, Muye Zhou, Rick Lu, Gen Li, Yue Tang, Zihan Chen, Karen Antonio, Andrew Varley, Daniel Chen, Connor Hodges, Adrian Wong, Jiaxin Hu, Basil P Hubbard, John Engelhardt, Ziying Yan, and Bowen Li^#

   Nature Materials, 2026

   Website
3. Front. Mol. Biosci.

   

   Identification of DNASE1L3 as a Novel Biomarker of Clinical Stage in Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma

   Wenjing Xue, Songbo Xie, Tong Wu, Ruixi Li, Denghui Lu, Siyuan S Chen^#, Yue Xu^#, and Yuxin Wang^#

   Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 2026

   Website

2025

1. Mater. Today

   

   Biodegradable Lipid Nanoparticles for Genome Editing in the Brain via Intrathecal Administration

   Songtao Dong^*, Liam Healy^*, Fanglin Gong, Yue Xu, Yuhang Cai, Nicholas Solek, Jingan Chen, Muye Zhou, Taylor Thomson, Myroslav Savguira, Shuai Luozhong, Yichi Zhang, Tian He, Gen Li, and Bowen Li^#

   Materials Today, 2025

   Website
2. Nat. Nanotechnol.

   

   A modular mRNA platform for programmable induction of tumour-specific immunogenic cell death

   Songtao Dong^*, Shannon Tsai^*, Yue Xu, Fanglin Gong, Tiana Young, Nicholas Solek, Daniel Chen, Liam Healy^*, Myroslav Savguira, Muye Zhou, Jingan Chen, Alex Golubovic, Rick Lu, Tian He, Haoyuan He, and Bowen Li^#

   Nature Nanotechnology, 2025

   Website
3. Small

   

   Deep Red-Light-Mediated Nitric Oxide and Photodynamic Synergistic Antibacterial Therapy for the Treatment of Drug-Resistant Bacterial Infections

   Jingjing Lin, Mingyi Cao, Shiya Wang, Xinyu Wu, Yuhan Pan, Zhiyue Dai, Ningge Xu, Lumin Zuo, Ji Liu, Yuxin Wang, Qifeng Zhong, Yue Xu, Jianbing Wu, Lijuan Gui, Xueying Ji, Heng Liu, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Small, 2025

   Website
4. PNAS

   

   Rational design and modular synthesis of biodegradable ionizable lipids via the Passerini reaction for mRNA delivery

   Yue Xu^*, Fanglin Gong^*, Alex Golubovic, Amy Strilchuk, Jingan Chen, Muye Zhou, Songtao Dong, Breanna Seto, and Bowen Li^#

   Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025

   Website
5. Bioorg. Chem.

   

   Photoresponsive nitric oxide photocage/photodynamic integrated prodrug for advanced management of drug-resistant bacteria-infected wound therapy

   Jingjing Lin, Shiya Wang, Mingyi Cao, Yuhan Pan, Zhiyue Dai, Yuxin Wang, Zhiyuan Jin, Yue Xu, Jianbing Wu, Ji Liu, Zhenwei Yuan^#, Yanliang Zhang, and Lijuan Gui^#

   Bioorganic Chemistry, 2025

   Website
6. ACS Bio Med Chem Au

   

   A Reverse Transcription Nucleic-Acid-Based Barcoding System for In Vivo Measurement of Lipid Nanoparticle mRNA Delivery

   Kevin C Wang, Tiana L Young, Jingan Chen, Shannon N Tsai, Yue Xu, Andrew J Varley, Nicholas C Solek, Fanglin Gong, Rick XZ Lu, Basil P Hubbard, and Bowen Li^#

   ACS Bio & Med Chem Au, 2025

   Website

2024

1. Nat. Commun.

   

   AGILE platform: a deep learning powered approach to accelerate LNP development for mRNA delivery

   Yue Xu^*, Shihao Ma^*, Haotian Cui, Jingan Chen, Shufen Xu, Fanglin Gong, Alex Golubovic, Muye Zhou, Kevin Chang Wang, Andrew Varley, Rick Xing Ze Lu, Bo Wang^#, and Bowen Li^#

   Nature communications, 2024

   Website
2. Adv. Mater.

   

   Tumor-tailored ionizable lipid nanoparticles facilitate IL-12 circular RNA delivery for enhanced lung cancer immunotherapy

   Shufen Xu^*, Yue Xu^*, Nicholas C Solek, Jingan Chen, Fanglin Gong, Andrew James Varley, Alex Golubovic, Anni Pan, Songtao Dong, Gang Zheng, and Bowen Li^#

   Advanced Materials, 2024

   Website

2023

1. J. Mater. Chem. B

   

   Rational design and combinatorial chemistry of ionizable lipids for RNA delivery

   Yue Xu^*, Alex Golubovic^*, Shufen Xu, Anni Pan, and Bowen Li^#

   Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2023

   Website
2. Nat. Biomed. Eng.

   

   Enhancing the immunogenicity of lipid-nanoparticle mRNA vaccines by adjuvanting the ionizable lipid and the mRNA

   Bowen Li^*, Allen Yujie Jiang^*, Idris Raji, Caroline Atyeo, Theresa M Raimondo, Akiva GR Gordon, Luke H Rhym, Tahoura Samad, Corina MacIsaac, Jacob Witten, Haseeb Mughal, Taras M Chicz, Yue Xu, Ryan P McNamara, Sangeeta Bhatia, Galit Alter, Robert Langer, and Daniel G Anderson^#

   Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2023

   Website
3. PNAS

   

   Combinatorial design of ionizable lipid nanoparticles for muscle-selective mRNA delivery with minimized off-target effects

   Jingan Chen^*, Yue Xu^*, Muye Zhou, Shufen Xu, Andrew James Varley, Alex Golubovic, Rick Xing Ze Lu, Kevin Chang Wang, Mina Yeganeh, Daniel Vosoughi, and Bowen Li^#

   Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023

   Website

2022

1. Biomater. Sci.

   

   Recent advances in in situ oxygen-generating and oxygen-replenishing strategies for hypoxic-enhanced photodynamic therapy

   Shuheng Qin, Yue Xu, Hua Li, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Biomaterials Science, 2022

   Website
2. ACS Sens.

   

   β-Lactamase-responsive probe for efficient photodynamic therapy of drug-resistant bacterial infection

   Yue Xu^*, Haiyan Chen^*, Shufen Xu, Ji Liu, Yang Chen, Lijuan Gui, Hua Li, Ruixi Li, Zhenwei Yuan^#, and Bowen Li^#

   Acs Sensors, 2022

   Website
3. Chem. Eng. J.

   

   Monitoring inflammation-cancer progression by cell viscosity, polarity and leucine aminopeptidase using multicolor fluorescent probe

   Ruixi Li, Jingxuan Guo, Yishan Duan, Xian Liu, Lijuan Gui, Yue Xu, Xiangkai Kong, Yongjun Li, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Chemical Engineering Journal, 2022

   Website
4. Nanomedicine

   

   Potential of fluorescent nanoprobe in diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

   Jingjing Lin, Hanhan Li, Jingxuan Guo, Yue Xu, Hua Li, Jun Yan, Yuxin Wang, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Nanomedicine, 2022

   Website

2021

1. J. Adv. Res.

   

   Development of photosensitizer-loaded lipid droplets for photothermal therapy based on thiophene analogs

   Yue Xu^*, Hua Li^*, Lixue Fan, Yisha Chen, Li Li, Xiaojing Zhou, Ruixi Li, Yuru Cheng, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Journal of advanced research, 2021

   Website
2. Anal. Chim. Acta

   

   A near-infrared fluorescent probe with large Stokes shift for visualizing and monitoring mitochondrial viscosity in live cells and inflammatory tissues

   Lixue Fan, Yanping Pan, Weiqing Li, Yue Xu, Yishan Duan, Ruixi Li, Yanqing Lv, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Analytica Chimica Acta, 2021

   Website
3. J. Med. Chem.

   

   Light-triggered fluorescence self-reporting nitric oxide release from coumarin analogues for accelerating wound healing and synergistic antimicrobial applications

   Yue Xu^*, Hua Li^*, Shufen Xu, Xian Liu, Jingjing Lin, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2021

   Website

2020

1. Biomater. Sci.

   

   A visible and near-infrared dual-fluorescent probe for discrimination between Cys/Hcy and GSH and its application in bioimaging

   Ruixi Li, Habtamu Kassaye, Yanping Pan, Yuanzhi Shen, Weiqing Li, Yuru Cheng, Jingxuan Guo, Yue Xu, Hongping Yin, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Biomaterials Science, 2020

   Website
2. Anal. Chim. Acta

   

   A family of push-pull bio-probes for tracking lipid dots in living cells with the detection of heterogeneity and polarity

   Li Li^*, Yue Xu^*, Yisha Chen, Jinrong Zheng, Juanjuan Zhang, Ruixi Li, Hao Wan, Jun Yin, Zhenwei Yuan^#, and Haiyan Chen^#

   Analytica Chimica Acta, 2020

   Website
3. Small

   

   A Bioresponsive Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for Facile and Persistent Live-Cell Tracking

   Jinrong Zheng^*, Yue Xu^*, Lixue Fan, Shuheng Qin, Hua Li, Mangmang Sang, Ruixi Li, Haiyan Chen^#, Zhenwei Yuan^#, and Bowen Li^#

   Small, 2020

   Website

2019

1. Talanta

   

   A visible and near-infrared, dual emission fluorescent probe based on thiol reactivity for selectively tracking mitochondrial glutathione in vitro

   Yue Xu^*, Ruixi Li^*, Xiaojing Zhou, Weiqing Li, Umeorah Ernest, Hao Wan, Li Li, Haiyan Chen^#, and Zhenwei Yuan^#

   Talanta, 2019

   Website
2. Chem. Mater.

   

   Near-infrared-light-responsive lipid nanoparticles as an intelligent drug release system for cancer therapy

   Fei Wang, Zhenwei Yuan^#, Patrick McMullen, Ruixi Li, Jinrong Zheng, Yue Xu, Mingjun Xu, Qing He, Bowen Li^#, and Haiyan Chen^#

   Chemistry of Materials, 2019

   Website
3. Sens. Actuators B Chem.

   

   The visualization of lysosomal and mitochondrial glutathione via near-infrared fluorophore and in vivo imaging application

   Zhiqiang Xu, Ming-Xing Zhang, Yue Xu, Sheng Hua Liu, Lintao Zeng, Haiyan Chen^#, and Jun Yin

   Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2019

   Website
4. Mol. Pharm.

   

   Application of Nitroimidazole–Carbobane-Modified Phenylalanine Derivatives as Dual-Target Boron Carriers in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

   Ruixi Li, Juanjuan Zhang, Jingxuan Guo, Yue Xu, Kunyuan Duan, Jinrong Zheng, Hao Wan, Zhenwei Yuan^#, and Haiyan Chen^#

   Molecular pharmaceutics, 2019

   Website

2018

1. Biomater. Sci.

   

   Thermosensitive drug-loading system based on copper sulfide nanoparticles for combined photothermal therapy and chemotherapy in vivo

   Zhenwei Yuan^#, Sisi Qu, Yuanyuan He, Yue Xu, Li Liang, Xiaojing Zhou, Lijuan Gui, Yuqing Gu, and Haiyan Chen^#

   Biomaterials Science, 2018

   Website
2. Mol. Pharm.

   

   Methionine-decorated near infrared fluorescent probe for prolonged tumor imaging

   Chen Wei, Zhenwei Yuan^#, Jinrong Zheng, Habtamu Kassaye, Lijuan Gui, Fei Wang, Hao Wan, Yue Xu, Qing He, Murat Er, and others

   Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2018

   Website