Professor

The Yangtze River Scholar Professor

Principal Investigator, Peking-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences

Research interest

Dr. Yifu Qiu’s research interest is to understand the biology of immunity and metabolism and to develop novel therapeutic strategies against obesity and related diseases. By taking a combination of molecular, genetic, genomic, metabolic and immunological approaches,his laboratory studies 1) immune regulation of aging; 2) immune orchestration of energy homeostasis;3) brown, beige and white fat development, function and remodeling.As a corresponding author, Dr. Qiu has published his work in prestigious journals like Immunity, Nature Immunology and Cell Metabolism.

Education

1996.9 – 2000.7 B.S., Bioengineering, Nanchang University

2003.9 – 2010.3 Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Experience

2010.11 – 2015.10  Postdoc fellow, University of California, San Francisco

2015.11 – Present  Principal investigator, Peking-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences, Peking University

2015.11 – 2021.3    Principal investigator, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Peking University

2021.4 – 2023.8  Principal investigator, College of Future Technology, Peking University

2023.9 – Present  Professor, College of Future Technology, Peking University

Selected publications

1. Zhou Z, Yao J, Wu D, Huang X, Wang Y, Li X, Lu Q, Qiu Y*. (2024) Type 2 cytokine signaling in macrophages protects from cellular senescence and organismal aging.  Immunity, 57, 513-527.

2. Huang X, Li X, Shen H, Zhao Y, Zhou Z, Wang Y, Yao J, Xue K, Wu D*, Qiu Y*. (2023) Transcriptional repression of beige fat innervation via a YAP/TAZ-S100B axis. Nature Communications, 14(1):7102.

3. Shen H, Huang X, Zhao Y, Wu D, Xue K, Yao J, Wang Y, Tang N, Qiu Y*. (2022) The Hippo pathway links adipocyte plasticity to adipose tissue fibrosis. Nature Communications, 13(1):6030.

4. Xue K, Wu D, Wang Y, Zhao Y, Shen H, Yao J, Huang X, Li X, Zhou Z, Wang Z, Qiu Y*. (2022) The mitochondrial calcium uniporter engages UCP1 to form a thermoporter that promotes thermogenesis. Cell Metabolism, 34, 1325-1341.

5. Yao J, Wu D, Zhang C, Yan T, Zhao Y, Shen H, Xue K, Huang X, Wang Z, Qiu Y*. (2021) Macrophage IRX3 promotes diet-induced obesity and metabolic inflammation. Nature Immunology, 22, 1268-1279.