He discovered that polypeptide molecules, like "Lego", can automatically "assemble" into jelly-like gels!

In the past century, peptide drugs have experienced a development from scratch. The first peptide drug, insulin, was used to treat diabetes; the first chemically synthesized peptide drug, oxytocin, was used to induce labor in pregnant women. Today, peptides have become a hot research and development hotspot in the world's biological, medical, and pharmaceutical communities due to their strong physiological activity and diversity.

▲Shi Junfeng

Shi Junfeng is a professor at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Life and Medical Sciences of Hunan University. He has focused on the research and development of peptide drugs and key technologies for drug development over the past decade. In the latest achievement, he led the team to discover a "Lego"-like peptide molecule that can automatically assemble into a jelly-like gel, greatly increasing its residence time in the human body. This peptide can successfully activate the melanin production pathway and effectively treat vitiligo. For the 30 million vitiligo patients in my country, this is undoubtedly a great blessing.

Study abroad and enter the world of peptides

Shi Junfeng is from Hunan. He studied for his undergraduate degree at Xiangtan University, his master's degree at Sun Yat-sen University, and went to Brandeis University in the United States to pursue a doctorate in 2009. From the mountains to the coast, and then to studying abroad across the ocean, Shi Junfeng used his diligence and intelligence to pave a path for himself towards the hall of scientific research.

It was at Brandeis University that Shi Junfeng met a doctoral supervisor with wild imagination and active innovative thinking. Under his guidance, he came into contact with peptides and started peptide medicine research. After graduating with a doctorate in 2015, Shi Junfeng applied for a postdoctoral position at the Cancer Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health. There, he was deeply impressed by the meticulous, rigorous and standardized scientific research style of his postdoctoral supervisor. From 2009 to 2019, during ten years of overseas scientific research, Shi Junfeng accumulated rich experience in peptide design, drug preparation and efficacy evaluation under the guidance of two mentors with different styles. The 70 high-level academic papers published based on related results have been widely cited by scholars around the world, with more than 5,600 citations and an H-index of 36. The research work has been reported many times by media such as Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) of the American Chemical Society, ScienceNet and Sohu.

Returning to hometown for scientific research and innovative drug development

In 2019, at the invitation of Hunan University, his hometown university, Shi Junfeng returned to China to work. In the same year, he was selected into the Hunan Provincial Talent Plan "Hunan High-level Talent Aggregation Project", and in 2020 he was selected into Hunan Province's "Hunan Youth Talent Plan" and "Furong Scholar Award Program". In 2022, he was selected as a national high-level young talent and "Hunan Province Outstanding Youth". In a poetic and picturesque campus with profound cultural heritage, with the support of Hunan University's Interdisciplinary Institute of Life and Medicine, Hunan University Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Innovation Institute and other parties, Shi Junfeng formed a drug research innovation team. The team takes rigorous and meticulous, cross-integration, and collaborative innovation as its scientific research culture, and under the guidance of this spirit, it continues to grow and become an innovative team dedicated to the research and development of peptide drugs.

It is reported that the results published by the team in the American Chemical Society Nano (ACS Nano) systematically studied for the first time the treatment of vitiligo by regulating the function of the MC1R gene, providing potential new drug candidates for the treatment of vitiligo. Compared with previous peptide drugs that were degraded in less than half an hour, Shi Junfeng's team's peptide gel preparation still retained 50% in bovine serum albumin for 48 hours. The team also plans to further develop smear preparations for application to the affected area for treatment. This will provide patients with a more convenient treatment method. In order to better serve the clinic, Shi Junfeng will continue to lead the team to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with academia and the business community, and continue to innovate and develop peptide drugs to bring good news to more patients.