Bing Chen

About

Stephen C. Harrison is a Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology who has played a central role in guiding Harvard’s Biochemical Sciences Tutorial Program for decades, including serving as Head Tutor from 1972-1996. His contributions emphasize that students should learn how to think about scientific problems and how discoveries emerge from evidence, rather than just absorbing facts about biology. Harrison has been involved in the program's development, which focuses on small-group discussions, close mentorship, and engagement with primary scientific literature, fostering an environment where students develop an intellectual relationship with practicing scientists. His work has helped shape the tutorial’s focus on scientific thinking, evidence interpretation, and mentorship, contributing to Harvard’s undergraduate training in the life sciences.

Research topics

• Biochemistry
• Computer Science
• Virology
• Medicine
• Cell biology
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Biophysics

Selected publications

• Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells

  Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · 2021 · 3165 citations

  DOI

• Distinct conformational states of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

  Science · 2020 · 1355 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Intervention strategies are urgently needed to control the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The trimeric viral spike (S) protein catalyzes fusion between viral and target cell membranes to initiate infection. Here, we report two cryo-electron microscopy structures derived from a preparation of the full-length S protein, representing its prefusion (2.9-angstrom resolution) and postfusion (3.0-angstrom resolution) conformations, respectively. The spontaneous t…

  DOI

• SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: structure, viral entry and variants

  Nature Reviews Microbiology · 2025-05-06 · 29 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effect of the S2’ site cleavage on SARS-CoV-2 spike

  Nature Communications · 2025-11-27 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  SARS-CoV-2 initiates infection of host cells by fusing its envelope lipid bilayer with the cell membrane. To overcome kinetic barriers for membrane fusion, the virus-encoded spike (S) protein refolds from a metastable prefusion state to a lower energy, stable postfusion conformation. The protein is first split into S1 and S2 fragments at a proteolytic site after synthesis, and presumably further cleaved at a second site, known as the S2’ site, before membrane fusion can occur. Here, we report a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chromosome-scale genome assembly provides insights into the evolution and color synthesis of finger lemon (<i>Citrus australasica</i>)

  Tropical Plants · 2024-01-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The Australian native plant finger lemon (<italic>Citrus australasica</italic>) is well-known for its distinct flavor and high economic and medicinal value. "YaoJi" is a typical purple variety of finger lemon, but its genome has not been analyzed yet. In this study, we used three-generation nanopore sequencing technology to sequence and assemble the genome of the finger lemon, and combined with the transcriptome analysis of different varieties with different colors of rinds at the same developme…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Structure-function studies of the membrane-interacting domains of HIV-1 Env spike

  NIH · $8.4M · 2016–2026

• NIH Grant R01GM083680

  NIH · $1.8M · 2015

• NIH Grant R56AI129721

  NIH · $674k · 2019

Frequent coauthors

• Yongfei Cai

  Boston Children's Hospital

  121 shared

• Hanqin Peng

  Boston Children's Hospital

  77 shared

• Tianshu Xiao

  Nanyang Technological University

  75 shared

• Sophia Rits‐Volloch

  Harvard University

  74 shared

• Duane R. Wesemann

  Harvard University

  68 shared

• Jun Zhang

  67 shared

• Stephen C. Harrison

  Queen's University

  66 shared

• William R. Jacobs

  Albert Einstein College of Medicine

  59 shared

Labs

• Harvard's Biochemical Sciences Tutorial ProgramPI

Similar researchers at Harvard University

• Nathanael Grayh-185
• David Livingstonh-177