Education

2014–2019, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Ph.D. in Chemistry

2010–2014, Zhejiang University, B.S. in Physics

Academic Experience

2020 – Present, Beijing Changping Laboratory, Leading Scientist

2023 – Present, Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center, Peking University, Principal Investigator/Assistant Professor

2019 – 2023, Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center, Peking University, Research Associate

Overview of Academic Research

Cao's research focuses on B-cell adaptive immune response, antibody drugs and vaccine designs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he made key contributions to the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, humoral immunity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and infection, and antibody immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Cao's team developed a high-throughput deep mutational scanning (DMS) technology and a platform for high-throughput antibody selection and characterization. Using this platform, they determined the neutralizing activity of a large collection of antibodies isolated from individuals with various SARS-CoV-2 immune histories against different SARS-CoV-2 variants, and their binding sites on the RBD. Cao has led the characterization of humoral immune escape by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and its emerging sublineages, revealing the molecular mechanism behind immune imprinting and convergent evolution of Omicron. Based on the data from neutralization assays and escape mutation profiles of a large collection of antibodies, the team established a computational model to rationally predict the direction of SARS-CoV-2 RBD evolution. Using this model, Cao and his team were able to predict several of the key mutations and mutants that have later emerged.

Cao's research has been published in top scientific journals like Nature, Cell, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Cell Host & Microbe and Cell Research.

2023  China's top 10 scientific advances in 2022

2023  China's top 10 advances in life sciences in 2022

2022  Nature's “Ten people who helped shape science in 2022” (Nature's 10)

2021  "35 Innovators Under 35" (China) by MIT Technology Review (TR35)

Representative Research Achievements

1.Yunlong Cao*, Fanchong Jian, Jing Wang, Yuanling Yu, Weiliang Song, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Jing Wang, Ran An, Xiaosu Chen, Na Zhang, Yao Wang, Peng Wang, Lijuan Zhao, Haiyan Sun, Lingling Yu, Sijie Yang, Xiao Niu, Tianhe Xiao, Qingqing Gu, Fei Shao, Xiaohua Hao, Yanli Xu, Ronghua Jin, Zhongyang Shen, Youchun Wang*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*. Imprinted SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity induces convergent Omicron RBD evolution. Nature (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05644-7

2.Yunlong Cao*, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Fanchong Jian, Weiliang Song, Tianhe Xiao, Lei Wang, Shuo Du, Jing Wang, Qianqian Li, Xiaosu Chen, Yuanling Yu, Peng Wang, Zhiying Zhang, Pulan Liu, Ran An, Xiaohua Hao, Yao Wang, Jing Wang, Rui Feng, Haiyan Sun, Lijuan Zhao, Wen Zhang, Dong Zhao, Jiang Zheng, Lingling Yu, Can Li, Na Zhang, Rui Wang, Xiao Niu, Sijie Yang, Xuetao Song, Yangyang Chai, Ye Hu, Yansong Shi, Linlin Zheng, Zhiqiang Li, Qingqing Gu, Fei Shao, Weijin Huang, Ronghua Jin, Zhongyang Shen*, Youchun Wang*, Xiangxi Wang*, Junyu Xiao*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*. BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 escape antibodies elicited by Omicron infection. Nature. 608: 593–602 (2022).

3.Yunlong Cao*, Jing Wang, Fanchong Jian, Tianhe Xiao, Weiliang Song, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Weijin Huang, Qianqian Li, Peng Wang, Ran An, Jing Wang, Yao Wang, Xiao Niu, Sijie Yang, Hui Liang, Haiyan Sun, Tao Li, Yuanling Yu, Qianqian Cui, Shuo Liu, Xiaodong Yang, Shuo Du, Zhiying Zhang, Xiaohua Hao, Fei Shao, Ronghua Jin, Xiangxi Wang*, Junyu Xiao*, Youchun Wang*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*. Omicron escapes the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Nature. 602: 657–663 (2022).

4.Zhen Cui, Pan Liu, Nan Wang, Lei Wang, Kaiyue Fan, Qianhui Zhu, Kang Wang, Ruihong Chen, Rui Feng, Zijing Jia, Minnan Yang, Ge Xu, Boling Zhu, Wangjun Fu, Tianming Chu, Leilei Feng, Yide Wang, Xinran Pei, Peng Yang, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Lei Cao*, Yunlong Cao*, Xiangxi Wang*. Structural and functional characterizations of infectivity and immune evasion of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron. Cell. 185(5): 860-871. (2022)

5.Shuo Du, Yunlong Cao, Qinyu Zhu, Pin Yu, Feifei Qi, Guopeng Wang, Xiaoxia Du, Linlin Bao, Wei Deng, Hua Zhu, Jiangning Liu, Jianhui Nie, Yinghui Zheng, Haoyu Liang, Ruixue Liu, Shuran Gong, Hua Xu, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Qi Lv, Bo Wang, Runsheng He, Yunlin Han, Wenjie Zhao, Yali Bai, Yajin Qu, Xiang Gao, Chenggong Ji, Qisheng Wang, Ning Gao, Weijin Huang, Youchun Wang, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*, Xiao-Dong Su*, Junyu Xiao*, Chuan Qin*. Structurally Resolved SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Shows High Efficacy in Severely Infected Hamsters and Provides a Potent Cocktail Pairing Strategy. Cell. 183: 1013-1023.e13 (2020).

6.Yunlong Cao, Bin Su, Xianghua Guo, Wenjie Sun, Yongqiang Deng, Linlin Bao, Qinyu Zhu, Xu Zhang, Yinghui Zheng, Chenyang Geng, Xiaoran Chai, Runsheng He, Xiaofeng Li, Qi Lv, Hua Zhu, Wei Deng, Yanfeng Xu, Yanjun Wang, Luxin Qiao, Yafang Tan, Liyang Song, Guopeng Wang, Xiaoxia Du, Ning Gao, Jiangning Liu, Junyu Xiao, Xiao-Dong Su, Zongmin Du, Yingmei Feng, Chuan Qin*, Chengfeng Qin*, Ronghua Jin*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*. Potent Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Identified by High-Throughput Single-Cell Sequencing of Convalescent Patients’ B Cells. Cell. 182: 73-84.e16 (2020).

7.Yunlong Cao*, Fanchong Jian, Zhiying Zhang, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Xiaohua Hao, Linlin Bao, Fei Yuan, Yuanling Yu, Shuo Du, Jing Wang, Tianhe Xiao, Weiliang Song, Ying Zhang, Pulan Liu, Ran An, Peng Wang, Yao Wang, Sijie Yang, Xiao Niu, Yuhang Zhang, Qingqing Gu, Fei Shao, Yaling Hu, Weidong Yin, Aihua Zheng, Youchun Wang, Chuan Qin*, Ronghua Jin*, Junyu Xiao*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*. Rational identification of potent and broad sarbecovirus-neutralizing antibody cocktails from SARS convalescents. Cell Reports. 41(12): 111845 (2022).

8.Yunlong Cao*, Weiliang Song, Lei Wang, Pan Liu, Can Yue, Fanchong Jian, Yuanling Yu, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Peng Wang, Yao Wang, Qianhui Zhu, Jie Deng, Wangjun Fu, Lingling Yu, Na Zhang, Jing Wang, Tianhe Xiao, Ran An, Jing Wang, Lu Liu, Sijie Yang, Xiao Niu, Qingqing Gu, Fei Shao, Xiaohua Hao, Bo Meng, Ravindra Kumar Gupta, Ronghua Jin, Youchun Wang*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*. Characterization of the enhanced infectivity and antibody evasion of Omicron BA.2.75. Cell Host & Microbe. 30(11): 1527-1539. (2022).

9.Fanchong Jian, Yuanling Yu, Weiliang Song, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Lingling Yu, Yuxue Gao, Na Zhang, Yao Wang, Fei Shao, Xiaohua Hao, Yanli Xu, Ronghua Jin, Youchun Wang, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*, Yunlong Cao*. Further humoral immunity evasion of emerging SARS-CoV-2 BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 22(11): 1535-1537. (2022).

10.Yunlong Cao*, Xiaohua Hao, Xi Wang, Qianhui Wu, Rui Song, Dong Zhao, Weiliang Song, Yao Wang, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Wei Wang, Wen Zhang, Juan Du, Hongjie Yu*, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie*, Ronghua Jin*. Humoral immunogenicity and reactogenicity of CoronaVac or ZF2001 booster after two doses of inactivated vaccine. Cell Research. 32: 107-109. (2022).