Hongbing Yu, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Dr. Hongbing Yu’s research career has been focused on studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in infectious and immune diseases. Dr. Yu completed his doctoral research at National University of Singapore, where he used genomics and proteomics approaches to systematically identify virulence factors of Aeromonas hydrophila, a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen in humans. He subsequently moved to University of British Columbia as a postdoctoral fellow, to study how food pathogens (Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium) use their virulence factors to interact with the host signaling pathways (such as autophagy). Dr. Yu later worked at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, where he utilized various in vivo techniques to define how the immune system controls host responses to intestinal pathogens and other noxious stimuli in the gut, as well as how pathogens deploy their virulence factors to infect the gut. He discovered a key neuroimmune axis whereby the recruitment of group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) in the intestine is controlled by the neuropeptide vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). He also revealed the role of serine protease autotransporters in responding to sialic acid (a monosaccharide derived from mucins) and promoting Citrobacter rodentium pathogenesis.

Research

Overview

The mammalian gastrointestinal tract provides the largest surface area in the body, where host cells (such as immune cells, epithelial cells, and enteric neuronal cells) and luminal contents (diet and microbes) dynamically communicate with each other to maintain intestinal homeostasis. Dysfunction in any of these communications could lead to an inflamed “leaky” gut (increased intestinal permeability), and cause or aggravate diseases in the gut and/or other organs. My long-term research goal is to understand how host-microbe interactions occur at the intestinal barrier. My imminent research includes: (1) understanding how the neuropeptide vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) interacts with different types of immune cells to regulate the intestinal barrier function under physiological and pathological conditions, such as intestinal pathogen infections and inflammatory bowel disease; (2) exploring the mechanisms by which serine protease autotransporters of Enterobacteriaceae (SPATEs) contribute to intestinal colonization.

• Hiroki, C., H, Hassanabad, M., F, Defaye, M, Sarden, N, Bartlett, A, Farias, R, Nguyen, A., P, Guerrero-Fonseca, I., M, Yoon, G, Brown, L, Ma, C, Yang, H, Belke, D, Hassanabad, A., F, McCoy, C, Rosin, N., L, Orton, D., J, Fedak PWM, Vallance, B., A, Yu, H, Jacobson, K, Khan, N, Altier, C, Kelly, M., M, Yipp, B., G. 2025. Nociceptor neurons suppress alveolar macrophage-induced Siglec-F(+) neutrophil-mediated inflammation to protect against pulmonary fibrosis.. Immunity
• Chen, Y, Gilliland, A, Liang, Q, Han, X, Yang, H, Chan, J, Lévesque, D, Moon, K., M, Daneshgar, P, Boisvert, F., M, Foster, L, Zandberg, W., F, Bergstrom, K, Yu, H., B, Vallance, B., A. 2025. Defining enteric bacterial pathogenesis using organoids: Citrobacter rodentium uses EspC, an atypical mucinolytic protease, to penetrate mouse colonic mucus.. Gut microbes, 17 (1), 2494717
• Liang, Q, Ma, C, Crowley, S., M, Allaire, J., M, Han, X, Chong RWW, Packer, N., H, Yu, H., B, Vallance, B., A. 2023. Sialic acid plays a pivotal role in licensing Citrobacter rodentium's transition from the intestinal lumen to a mucosal adherent niche.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120 (28), e2301115120
• Serapio-Palacios, A, Woodward, S., E, Vogt, S., L, Deng, W, Creus-Cuadros, A, Huus, K., E, Cirstea, M, Gerrie, M, Barcik, W, Yu, H, Finlay, B., B. 2022. Type VI secretion systems of pathogenic and commensal bacteria mediate niche occupancy in the gut.. Cell reports, 39 (4), 110731
• Yu, H., B, Yang, H, Allaire, J., M, Ma, C, Graef, F., A, Mortha, A, Liang, Q, Bosman, E., S, Reid, G., S, Waschek, J., A, Osborne, L., C, Sokol, H, Vallance, B., A, Jacobson, K. 2021. Vasoactive intestinal peptide promotes host defense against enteric pathogens by modulating the recruitment of group 3 innate lymphoid cells.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118 (41)