主要的研究方向是染色质空间组织对V(D)J重排的调节机制以及重排过程的异常对抗感染免疫、抗肿瘤免疫和自身免疫的影响。中华医学会罕见病分会第一届委员会委员，中华医学会医学遗传学分会青年委员会副主任委员。曾经以第一作者或并列第一作者在Nature、J Exp Med和J Immunology等杂志发表文章多篇，以通讯作者在Nucleic Acids Research、Nature Communications等杂志发表文章10余篇。主持国家自然科学基金面上项目5项。

真核生物染色质被高度紧密地包装在细胞核中，其空间组织非常复杂，其中远距离基因组序列的相互作用参与基因转录调节，基因重组和染色体易位等细胞过程。在淋巴细胞发育中，抗原受体基因经历V(D)J重组产生高度多样的重排基因编码T细胞受体和B细胞受体来识别外源病原体和内源癌变细胞等。通常抗原受体基因非常巨大，从几百kb到几个Mb，其正常重排涉及基因片段之间复杂的相互作用。然而这些基因片段之间相互作用的调节机制还不清楚。

前期研究发现细胞周期中介导姐妹染色体分离的复合体Cohesin在T细胞抗原受体基因Tcra的重排中的发挥重要作用。Cohesin可以介导增强子Eα与TEA启动子相互作用来增强TEA转录，活跃的转录对于打开染色体，重组酶识别并切割重组序列RSs启动重排。另外一个研究发现T细胞特异性染色质组织者蛋白SATB1通过介导重组酶Rag的增强子和启动子相互作用调节重组酶高表达，使Tcra基因的重组能够顺利进行。我的研究方向就是进一步探索染色质构象和淋巴细胞发育以及抗原受体基因V(D)J重组之间的关系，以及染色质组织者蛋白对抗原受体基因异常重组引起染色体易位的影响。这些研究有助于理解淋巴细胞的发育和淋巴瘤的发生机制。

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4.     Carabana J*, Watanabe A*, Hao B*, Krangel MS. A barrier-type insulator forms a boundary between active andinactive chromatin at the murine TCRβ locus. J Immunol. 2011, Vol.186, 3556-62.

5.     Hao B, Krangel MS. Long-Distance Regulation of Fetal Vdelta Gene Segment TRDV4 by the Tcrd Enhancer. JImmunol. 2011 Vol. 187(5), 2484-91.

6.     Hao B, Naik AK, Watanabe A, Tanaka H, Chen L, Richards HW, Kondo M, Taniuchi I, Kohwi Y, Kohwi-Shigematsu T, Krangel MS. An anti-silencer- and SATB1-dependent chromatin hub regulates Rag1 and Rag2 gene expression during thymocyte development. J. Exp. Med. 2015 Vol. 212(5), 809-24.

7.     Zhao H, Li Z, Zhu Y, Hao B#. A linear-amplification VDJ-seq technique for quantification of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor diversity. Genome. 2020 Mar;63(3):145-153.

8.     Zhang Y*, Li Z*, Bian S*, Zhao H, Feng D, Chen Y, Hou Y, Liu Q#, Hao B#. HiCoP, a simple and robust method for detecting interactions of regulatory regions. Epigenetics Chromatin. 2020 Jul 1;13(1):27. 

9.     Hao Zhao*, Zhaoqiang Li*, Yongchang Zhu*, Shasha Bian*, Yan Zhang, Litao Qin, Abani Kanta Naik, Jiangtu He, Zhenhai Zhang, Michael S. Krangel and Bingtao Hao#. A role of the CTCF binding site at enhancer Ea in the dynamic chromatin organization of the Tcra–Tcrd locus. Nucleic Acids Research. 2020  Sept. 25; 48(17) 9621–9636

10.   Feng D, Li Z, Qin L, Hao B#. The role of chromatin organizer Satb1 in shaping TCR repertoire in adult thymus. Genome. 2021 Feb 22.  

11.   Shi W, Yang F, Dai R, Sun Y, Chu Y, Liao S#, Hao B#. METTL3-Mediated N6-Methyladenosine Modification Is Involved in the Dysregulation of NRIP1 Expression in Down Syndrome. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Apr 1;9:621374.

12.   Yang Y*, Ye X*, Dai R*, Li Z, Zhang Y, Xue W, Zhu Y, Feng D, Qin L, Wang X, Lei B#, Liao S#, Hao B#. Phase separation of Epstein-Barr virus EBNA2 protein reorganizes chromatin topology for epigenetic regulation. Commun Biol. 2021 Aug 16;4(1):967.

13.   Feng D*, Chen Y*, Dai R*, Bian S*, Xue W*, Zhu Y, Li Z, Yang Y, Zhang Y, Zhang J, Bai J, Qin L, Kohwi Y, Shi W, Kohwi-Shigematsu T, Ma J, Liao S#, Hao B#. Chromatin organizer SATB1 controls the cell identity of CD4+ CD8+ double-positive thymocytes by regulating the activity of super-enhancers. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 22;13(1):5554.

14.   Dai R*, Zhu Y*, Li Z, Qin L, Liu N#, Liao S#, Hao B#. Three-way contact analysis characterizes the higher order organization of the Tcra locus. Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 Aug 3.