Rate My Professor Jianming Hu

Jianming Hu, MD, MS, PhD, is Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Professor in the Department of Cell and Biological Systems at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey. He holds affiliations with the Penn State Cancer Institute in the Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis scientific program and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. His research centers on the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a major human pathogen, with emphasis on molecular and cellular mechanisms governing viral replication, assembly, persistence, and pathogenesis. Key areas include HBV precore gene functions, regulation of capsid assembly, covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) formation and elimination, nucleocapsid-envelope interactions, subviral particle structures, host cell-dependent late entry steps, and virus-host interactions facilitating cellular clearance from infection.

Dr. Hu's laboratory employs cell and animal models to study HBV infection and develop antiviral therapies, including candidates like HBVZ10 for cccDNA targeting. Notable contributions encompass cryo-EM structural analyses of HBV capsids and subviral particles from human cells, conserved protein functions in infected hepatocytes, and replication-driven cccDNA dynamics in humanized liver models. His influential publications include 'A global scientific strategy to cure hepatitis B' (2019, The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology), 'Hsp90 is required for the activity of a hepatitis B virus reverse transcriptase' (1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), 'Hepadnavirus assembly and reverse transcription require a multi-component chaperone complex which is incorporated into nucleocapsids' (1997, The EMBO Journal), 'Complete and incomplete hepatitis B virus particles: formation, function, and application' (2017, Viruses), 'Cryo-EM structures of human hepatitis B and woodchuck hepatitis virus small spherical subviral particles' (2022, Science Advances), and 'A roadmap for serum biomarkers for hepatitis B virus: current status and future outlook' (2022, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology). These works have advanced understanding of hepadnavirus biology and therapeutic strategies.