About

Min Dong is a Principal Investigator and Associate Professor affiliated with the Department of Urology at Boston Children's Hospital, as well as the Department of Microbiology and the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. He is also involved with the Biophysics Program at Harvard University. Min Dong earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1997. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy in the Neuroscience Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution from 2004 to 2009. His academic and research career is marked by his interdisciplinary appointments spanning urology, microbiology, neuroscience, and biophysics, reflecting a broad and integrative approach to biomedical research.

Research topics

• Pathology
• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Microbiology
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Immunology
• Medicine

Selected publications

• A pro-carcinogenic bacterial toxin binds claudin-4 to cleave E-cadherin

  Nature · 2026-04-22

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Designing Veratramine Nanopesticide with Strong Adhesion Performance and Plant Uptake for Efficient Control toward Multiple Target Pests

  ACS Applied Nano Materials · 2025-07-12 · 6 citations

  articleCorresponding

  Botanical pesticides are promising alternatives for sustainable pest management due to their environmental compatibility, biodegradability, and multitarget mechanisms that help delay pest resistance. Unfortunately, most botanical pesticides face challenges such as limited water solubility and poor foliar adhesion, thereby limiting their large-scale field application. Herein, the star polycation (SPc) nanocarrier and X-100 surfactant were introduced to successfully develop an efficient nanodelivery platform for veratramine (VAM). The SPc could spontaneously assemble with VAM via a hydrogen bond and van der Waals force, and the integration of Triton X-100 stabilized the nanoscale size (84 nm) to prepare a VAM nanopesticide. Interestingly, this optimized system reduced the contact angle and increased the retention of VAM on plant leaves while remarkably facilitating its systemic transport through roots and leaves. Compared to commercial VAM, the VAM nanopesticide showed stronger contact and stomach toxicity against multiple pest species such as aphids, thrips, and mites, which exhibited fast-acting properties in the field with high control efficacy even at 7 d after the spraying. Subsequently, the RNA-seq and biological experiments demonstrated that the application of VAM nanopesticide influenced various pathways in aphids, inducing starch and sucrose metabolism, protein digestion and absorption, etc., with inhibitory effects on the biosynthesis of trehalose and protein. Importantly, the application of the VAM nanopesticide did not adversely influence the predatory lady beetles or cowpea seedlings, confirming its safety in actual applications. Overall, our work addressed the formulation instability and environmental loss of VAM while ensuring its ecological safety, which offered a scalable nanoplatform to optimize botanical pesticides for enhanced efficacy and minimized ecological risks.

  PublisherDOI

• Multistate kinetics of the syringe-like injection mechanism of Tc toxins

  Science Advances · 2025-01-03 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Tc toxins are pore-forming virulence factors of many pathogenic bacteria. Following pH-induced conformational changes, they perforate the target membrane like a syringe to translocate toxic enzymes into a cell. Although this complex transformation has been structurally well studied, the reaction pathway and the resulting temporal evolution have remained elusive. We used an integrated biophysical approach to monitor prepore-to-pore transition and found a reaction time of ~30 hours for a complete transition. We show two asynchronous general steps of the process, shell opening and channel ejection, with the overall reaction pathway being a slow multistep process involving three intermediates. Liposomes, an increasingly high pH, or receptors facilitate shell opening, which is directly correlated with an increased rate of the prepore-to-pore transition. Channel ejection is a near-instantaneous process which occurs with a transition time of <60 milliseconds. Understanding the mechanism of action of Tc toxins and unveiling modulators of the kinetics are key steps toward their application as biomedical devices or biopesticides.

  PublisherDOI

• HortiVQA-PP: Multitask Framework for Pest Segmentation and Visual Question Answering in Horticulture

  Horticulturae · 2025-08-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  A multimodal interactive system, HortiVQA-PP, is proposed for horticultural scenarios, with the aim of achieving precise identification of pests and their natural predators, modeling ecological co-occurrence relationships, and providing intelligent question-answering services tailored to agricultural users. The system integrates three core modules: semantic segmentation, pest–predator co-occurrence detection, and knowledge-enhanced visual question answering. A multimodal dataset comprising 30 pest categories and 10 predator categories has been constructed, encompassing annotated images and corresponding question–answer pairs. In the semantic segmentation task, HortiVQA-PP outperformed existing models across all five evaluation metrics, achieving a precision of 89.6%, recall of 85.2%, F1-score of 87.3%, mAP@50 of 82.4%, and IoU of 75.1%, representing an average improvement of approximately 4.1% over the Segment Anything model. For the pest–predator co-occurrence matching task, the model attained a multi-label accuracy of 83.5%, a reduced Hamming Loss of 0.063, and a macro-F1 score of 79.4%, significantly surpassing methods such as ASL and ML-GCN, thereby demonstrating robust structural modeling capability. In the visual question answering task, the incorporation of a horticulture-specific knowledge graph enhanced the model’s reasoning ability. The system achieved 48.7% in BLEU-4, 54.8% in ROUGE-L, 43.3% in METEOR, 36.9% in exact match (EM), and a GPT expert score of 4.5, outperforming mainstream models including BLIP-2, Flamingo, and MiniGPT-4 across all metrics. Experimental results indicate that HortiVQA-PP exhibits strong recognition and interaction capabilities in complex pest scenarios, offering a high-precision, interpretable, and widely applicable artificial intelligence solution for digital horticulture.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Identification of a divergent botulinum neurotoxin like gene cluster in <i>Furfurilactobacillus</i>

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-01-21

  preprintOpen access

  Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are among the most potent biological toxins and are traditionally associated with Clostridium species. However, recent discoveries have identified BoNT-like proteins in diverse bacterial genera, revealing an expanding family of neurotoxins with unique evolutionary and functional traits. In this study, we report the identification of a novel BoNT-like gene cluster in Furfurilactobacillus sp. OKN36, encoding a toxin we tentatively designate as "Furfuritoxin". Sequence and structural analyses indicate that Furfuritoxin shares key domains with clostridial neurotoxins, including a light chain zinc metalloprotease domain and heavy chain translocase and binding domains, while exhibiting significant sequence divergence. Phylogenetic analysis places Furfuritoxin within a divergent lineage alongside previously reported BoNT/Wo, suggesting a shared ancestral relationship. Gene neighborhood analysis reveals features shared with other BoNT gene clusters including ORFX-related genes and conjugation-associated elements, indicating horizontal gene transfer may have facilitated its distribution. This study adds to the growing family of BoNT-like toxins, providing insights into their evolution and diversity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Standard strategy for developing multicomponent nanopesticides: From gene function analysis to co-delivery nano-platform construction

  Chemical Engineering Journal · 2025-07-08 · 3 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• SLO co-opts host cell glycosphingolipids to access cholesterol-rich lipid rafts for enhanced pore formation and cytotoxicity

  mBio · 2025-01-21 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT Streptolysin O (SLO) is a virulence determinant of group A Streptococcus ( S. pyogenes ), the agent of streptococcal sore throat and severe invasive infections. SLO is a member of a family of bacterial pore-forming toxins known as cholesterol-dependent cytolysins, which require cell membrane cholesterol for pore formation. While cholesterol is essential for cytolytic activity, accumulating data suggest that cell surface glycans may also participate in the binding of SLO and other cholesterol-dependent cytolysins to host cells. Here, we find that unbiased CRISPR screens for host susceptibility factors for SLO cytotoxicity identified genes encoding enzymes involved in the earliest steps of glycosphingolipid (GSL) biosynthesis. Targeted knockouts of these genes conferred relative resistance to SLO cytotoxicity in two independent human cell lines. Inactivation of ugcg , which codes for UDP-glucose ceramide glucosyltransferase, the enzyme catalyzing the first glycosylation step in GSL biosynthesis, reduced the clustering of SLO on the cell surface. This result suggests that binding to GSLs serves to cluster SLO molecules at lipid rafts where both GSLs and cholesterol are abundant. SLO clustering and susceptibility to SLO cytotoxicity were restored by reconstituting the GSL content of ugcg knockout cells with ganglioside GM1, but susceptibility to SLO cytotoxicity was not restored by a GM1 variant that lacks an oligosaccharide head group required for SLO binding, nor by a variant with a “kinked” acyl chain that prevents efficient packing of the ganglioside ceramide moiety with cholesterol. Thus, SLO appears to co-opt cell surface glycosphingolipids to gain access to lipid rafts for increased efficiency of pore formation and cytotoxicity. IMPORTANCE Group A Streptococcus is a global public health concern as it causes streptococcal sore throat and less common but potentially life-threatening invasive infections. Invasive infections have been associated with bacterial strains that produce large amounts of a secreted toxin, streptolysin O (SLO), which belongs to a family of pore-forming toxins produced by a variety of bacterial species. This study reveals that SLO binds to a class of molecules known as glycosphingolipids on the surface of human cells and that this interaction promotes efficient binding of SLO to cholesterol in the cell membrane and enhances pore formation. Understanding how SLO damages human cells provides new insight into streptococcal infection and may inform new approaches to treatment and prevention.

  PublisherDOI

• Identification and characterization of botulinum neurotoxin–like two-component toxins in <i>Paeniclostridium ghonii</i>

  Science Advances · 2025-11-12 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Insecticidal bacterial proteins play key roles in insect-bacteria interactions and have been used as biopesticides. Here, we identify two insecticidal proteins in Paeniclostridium ghonii , designated PG-toxin 1 (PG1) and PG-toxin 2 (PG2), which are homologs of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs). Unlike BoNTs, PG1 and PG2 contain two separate proteins: One is the protease light chain (LC), and the other is the heavy chain containing the translocation domain and the receptor binding domain. Crystal and cryo–electron microscopy structures show a conserved BoNT-like architecture but without an interchain disulfide bond. Functional characterizations establish that the LCs of PG1 and PG2 cleave insect synaptosomal–associated protein 25 (SNAP25), but not human or rat SNAP25, and microinjection of PG1 and PG2 caused paralysis and death in Drosophila and Aedes mosquitoes. These findings identified unique two-component BoNT-like insecticidal proteins, revealing insights into the evolution of the BoNT family of toxins, and broadening our understanding of bacteria that can be used for biopest controls.

  PublisherDOI

• A self-assembled multicomponent RNA nano-biopesticide for increasing the susceptibility of destructive bean flower thrips to insecticides via dsNrf2

  Journal of Nanobiotechnology · 2025-05-20 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  High resistance of bean flower thrips (BFT, Megalurothrips usitatus) has led to the unscientific application of insecticides to cause famous "toxic cowpea" incidents in China. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays an important role in inducing antioxidant responses and drug detoxification. Therefore, the detoxification genes may be suppressed to control insecticide resistance via Nrf2. Herein, we demonstrated that the expression of most detoxification genes and enzyme activity were remarkably suppressed via nrf2 RNAi. Subsequently, a novel hydrophilic-lipophilic diblock polymer (HLDP) was developed to co-assemble with dsNrf2 and sulfoxaflor (SUL) into nanoscale SUL/HLDP/dsNrf2 complex (221.52 nm). Excitingly, the SUL/HLDP/dsNrf2 complex exhibited excellent leaf adhesion performance, with the smaller contact angle, reduced surface tension, amplified contact area, improved retention, and enhanced plant uptake. Meanwhile, theSUL/HLDP/dsNrf2 displayed high delivery efficiency in vitro and in vivo, and its insecticidal activity against BFTs was significantly higher than SUL. Furthermore, the required doses of SUL/HLDP/dsNrf2 to achieve similar insecticidal activity were 50.14% and 58.42% of SUL via immersion and oral feeding, respectively. Overall, this study elucidated the regulatory role of nrf2 in the detoxification and metabolism of BFTs and developed a self-assembled multicomponent RNA nano-biopesticide to increase the susceptibility of BFTs to insecticides.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Higher Virulence Renders K2 Klebsiella pneumoniae a Stable Share Among Those from Pyogenic Liver Abscess

  Infection and Drug Resistance · 2024-01-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Objective: To explore why serotype K2 accounts for a stable share in Klebsiella pneumoniae from pyogenic liver abscess (PLA). Methods: Totally 15 K2 K. pneumoniae strains from PLA, 21 K2 from non-PLA, and 31 K1 from PLA were collected from China. Sequence typing, molecular serotyping, regular PCR, and Galleria mellonella lethality were performed. A total of 12 virulence genes were detected: peg-344, allS, p-rmpA, p-rmpA2, c-rmpA, fimH, mrkD, iucA, iroN, irp2, entB , and wzi . The differences between K2 K. pneumoniae strains from PLA and non-PLA were investigated along with K1 ones. Results: Significant differences were found between K2 strains from PLA and non-PLA for the rates of virulence genes peg-344 and iucA . The latter group also showed more diverse sequence types than the former. Significant differences were only found for virulence genes allS and irp2 between K1 and K2 strains from PLA. Based on the equal virulence factors backgrounds other than serotypes, K2 strain is more virulent than K1 as G. mellonella lethality confirmed. Gene p-rmpA only brings equal virulence to p-rmpA plus p-rmpA2 in K2 strain. Conclusion: Based on the same virulence factors backgrounds except serotypes, K2 K. pneumoniae is more virulent than K1 from PLA, which provides a survival advantage to maintain a stable share. Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae , pyogenic liver abscess, serotype, virulence, gene

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Targeted Delivery of Therapeutics into Motor Neurons for Post-exposure Treatment of Botulism

  NIH · $3.3M · 2021–2027

• Structure and Function of C. Difficile Toxins

  NIH · $7.4M · 2018–2030

• NIH Grant P51RR000168

  NIH · $79.8M · 2013

• Molecular basis of action and pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile toxin B

  NIH · $3.5M · 2017–2023

• NIH Grant R56AI097834

  NIH · $438k · 2014

Frequent coauthors

• Sicai Zhang

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

  82 shared

• Wei Yu

  Towson University

  81 shared

• A.M. Sayeed

  Lovely Professional University

  81 shared

• Shuguang Cui

  Peng Cheng Laboratory

  81 shared

• Ramy H. Gohary

  Carleton University

  81 shared

• Michael Rabbat

  81 shared

• Timothy N. Davidson

  McMaster University

  81 shared

• Gesualdo Chair

  University of Toronto

  81 shared

Labs

• Dong LabPI

  Not provided

Education

• Ph.D., Neuroscience

  University of Wisconsin Madison

  2004