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

2024-Present  Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Principal Investigator

2023-Present  Peking University, Assistant Professor/Principal Investigator 

2020-Present  Beijing Changping Laboratory, Research Scientist

2019-2023   Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center (BIOPIC), Peking University, Research Associate

Overview of Academic Research

Cao Lab investigates humoral immunity and antibodies at single-cell and molecular level. Our research interests include the following aspects:

l Antibody response, immune escape and immune imprinting in infectious diseases;

l Development of broad-spectrum antibody therapeutics and vaccines;

l Deciphering the relationship between targeting epitopes and functions of antibodies for various antigens;

l Computational and machine learning methods for modeling antibody-antigen interaction.

2025 HE Science Foundation Research Fellow

2025 Beijing Science and Technology Award in Natural Science (First Prize)

2024 Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation Awards for Outstanding Young Investigators

2024 DAMO Academy Young Fellow

2024 Xplorer Prize

2023 Beijing Outstanding Yound Talent Award (ZhongGuanCun Award)

2023 WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC 2023)

2023 The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Scientific Advisory Committee

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) 

2022 MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 China (TR35 China)

Representative Research Achievements

1.F. Jian#, J. Wang#, A. Yisimayi#, W. Song#, Y. Xu#, X. Chen, X. Niu, S. Yang, Y. Yu, P. Wang, H. Sun, L. Yu, J. Wang, Y. Wang, R. An, W. Wang, M. Ma, T. Xiao, Q. Gu, F. Shao, Y. Wang, Z. Shen, R. Jin & Y. Cao*, Evolving antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 antigenic shift from XBB to JN.1. Nature 637: 921-929 (2025).

2.A. Yisimayi#, W. Song#, J. Wang#, F. Jian#, Y. Yu#, X. Chen#, Y. Xu#, S. Yang, X. Niu, T. Xiao, J. Wang, L. Zhao, H. Sun, R. An, N. Zhang, Y. Wang, P. Wang, L. Yu, Z. Lv, Q. Gu, F. Shao, R. Jin, Z. Shen, X. S. Xie, Y. Wang & Y. Cao*, Repeated Omicron exposures override ancestral SARS-CoV-2 immune imprinting. Nature 625: 148-156. (2024).

3.Y. Cao*#, F. Jian#, J. Wang#, Y. Yu#, W. Song#, A. Yisimayi, J. Wang, R. An, X.Chen, N. Zhang, Y. Wang, P. Wang, L. Zhao, H. Sun, L. Yu, S. Yang, X. Niu, T. Xiao, Q. Gu, F. Shao, X. Xiao, Y. Xu, R. Jin, Z. Shen, Y. Wang* & X. S. Xie*, Imprinted SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity induces convergent Omicron RBD evolution. Nature 614: 21-529. (2023).

4.Y. Cao*#, A. Yisimayi#, F. Jian#, W. Song#, T. Xiao#, L. Wang#, S. Du#, J. Wang#, Q. Li#, X. Chen#, Y. Yu#, P. Wang, Z. Zhang, P. Liu, R. An, X. Hao, Y. Wang, J. Wang, R. Feng, H. Sun, L. Zhao, W. Zhang, D. Zhao, J. Zheng, L. Y, C. Li, N. Zhang, R. Wang, X. Niu, S. Yang, X. Song, Y. Chai, Y. Hu, Y. Shi, L. Zheng, Z. Li, Q. Gu, F. Shao, W. Huang, R. Jin, Z. Shen*, Y. Wang*, X. Wang*, J. Xiao* & X. S. Xie*, BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 escape antibodies elicited by Omicron infection. Nature 608: 593-602. (2022).

5.Y. Cao*#, J. Wang#, F. Jian#, T. Xiao#, W. Song#, A. Yisimayi#, W. Huang#, Q. Li, P. Wang, R. An, J. Wang, Y. Wang, X. Niu, S. Yang, H. Liang, H. Sun, T. Li, Y. Yu, Q. Cui, S. Liu, X. Yang, S. Du, Z. Zhang, X. Hao, F. Shao, R. Jin, X. Wang*, J. Xiao*, Y. Wang* & X. S. Xie*, Omicron escapes the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Nature 602: 657-663. (2022).

6.Y. Cao#, B. Su#, X. Guo#, W. Sun#, Y. Deng#, L. Bao#, Q. Zhu, X. Zhang, Y. Zheng, C. Geng, X. Chai, R. He, X. Li, Q. Lv, H. Zhu, W. Deng, Y. Xu, Y. Wang, L. Qiao, Y. Tan, L. Song, G. Wang, X. Du, N. Gao, J. Liu, J. Xiao, X. Su, Z. Du, Y. Feng, C. Qin*, C. Qin*, R. Jin*, X. S. 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.F. Jian#, A. Z. Wec#, L. Feng#, Y. Yu, L. Wang, P. Wang, L. Yu, J. Wang, J. Hou, D. M. Berrueta, D. Lee, T. Speidel, L. Ma, T. Kim, A. Yisimayi, W. Song, J. Wang, L. Liu, S. Yang, X. Niu, T. Xiao, R. An, Y. Wang, F. Shao, Y. Wang, S. Pecetta, X. Wang*, L. M. Walker*, Y. Cao*. Viral evolution prediction identifies broadly neutralizing antibodies to existing and prospective SARS-CoV-2 variants. Nature Microbiology 10: 2003-2017 (2025).

8.S. Yang#, X. Luo#, J. Luo, F. Jian*, Y. Cao*. A deep mutational scanning-informed protein language model predicts SARS-CoV-2 evolution dynamics with spatiotemporal resolution Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02377-5 (2026).

9.S. Yang#, Y. Yu#, Y. Xu, F. Jian, W. Song, A. Yisimayi, P. Wang, J. Wang, J. Liu, L. Yu, X. Niu, J. Wang, Y. Wang, F. Shao, R. Jin, Y. Wang, Y. Cao*, Fast evolution of SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.86 to JN.1 under heavy immune pressure. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 24(2): e70-e72 (2024).

10.C. Yue, W. Song, L. Wang, F. Jian, X. Chen, F. Gao, Z. Shen, Y. Wang, X. Wang*, Y. Cao*, ACE2 binding and antibody evasion in enhanced transmissibility of XBB.1.5. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 23(3):278-280 (2023).