About the journal
Aims and Scope
Vita publishes exceptional, high-impact research dedicated to advancing knowledge across all areas of life and biomedical sciences. Such research either delivers crucial conceptual advances for understanding intriguing, significant biological questions or presents disruptive technological, translational, or clinical breakthroughs. Vita is an open access journal and maintains a fully international authorship and readership, with a broad scope spanning both basic mechanistic research and translational explorations, including but not limited to biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, clinical sciences, genetics and biotechnology.
Editorial Team
Co-Editors-in-chief
Dr. Dangsheng Li received his BS degree in Cell Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1988. In 1989, he was selected by the CUSBEA (China-U.S. Biochemistry Examination and Application) Program to pursue his graduate study in the United States, and obtained his PhD degree in Molecular Biology from Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University in 1995. From 1996 to 2004, he conducted postdoctoral research at New York University Medical Center. From 2004 to 2006, he served as an Associate Editor of Cell, making him the first Chinese editor in the journal’s history. He returned to China in early 2006 to take on the role of Deputy Editor-in-chief of Cell Research (CR), and later served as the Editor-in-chief of CR from 2021 to 2025. In 2015, he spearheaded the launch of Cell Discovery and served as its Executive Editor-in-chief, and later the Editor-in-chief from 2021 to 2025. In April 2025, he joined the Shanghai Academy of Natural Sciences as its Chief Scientific Officer. In August 2025, he was appointed as a founding Co-Editor-in-chief of Vita.
Dr. Yigong Shi received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology with highest honor from Tsinghua University in 1989 and obtained his PhD in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1995. Following a two-year postdoctoral research period at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he joined the faculty of Molecular Biology at Princeton University as an Assistant Professor in 1998 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2003. He was named Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology in 2007. A year later, Dr. Shi resigned from Princeton University, declined an offer of an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and returned to Tsinghua University where he led the development of biomedical research community for a decade. In April 2018, Dr. Shi was elected as the Founding President of Westlake University, the first new type of research university in China. In August 2025, he was appointed as a founding Co-Editor-in-chief of Vita.
Senior Scientific Editors
Dr. Shushu Jiang
Education: PhD, Biology, University of California, Riverside, USA
Contact: shushujiang@vita-journal.com
Dr. Ying Chen
Education: PhD, Biology, University of Bath, UK
Contact: yingchen@vita-journal.com
Dr. Li Lu
Education: PhD, Neuroscience and Molecular Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine--Graduate Partnerships Program NIH, USA
Contact: lilu@vita-journal.com
Scientific Advisory Board (in alphabetical order)
Xiu-Wu Bian, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
Yunlong Cao, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jijie Chai, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Ling-Ling Chen, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai, China
Ting Chen, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Xuemei Chen, Peking University, Beijing, China
Hongkui Deng, Peking University, Beijing, China
Sheng Ding, Tsinghua University, Beijing, Chian
Chen Dong, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Xiangdong Fu, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Beijing, China
Xiang-Dong Fu, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Qiang Gao, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Liang Ge, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Florent Ginhoux, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
Kun-Liang Guan, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Guoji Guo, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Tiannan Guo, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Bin Han, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai, China
Jiahuai Han, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Chuan He, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Zuhua He, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai, China
Hailan Hu, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Zhibin Hu, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
He Huang, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Hefeng Huang, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Sanwen Huang, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, CAAS, Shenzhen, China
Zhiwei Huang, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Changtao Jiang, Peking University, Beijing, China
Yi-Zhou Jiang, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Li Jin, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Daniel Klionsky, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
Guido Kroemer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
Bo Li, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Dali Li, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
Dong Li, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Guohong Li, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Jiayang Li, Yazhouwan National Laboratory, Sanya, China
Pilong Li, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Yulong Li, Peking University, Beijing, China
Sheng-Cai Lin, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Chenli Liu, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, CAS, Shenzhen, China
Ying Liu, Peking University, Beijing, China
Bai Lu, Shanghai Academy of Natural Sciences, Shanghai, China
Boxun Lu, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Lai Guan Ng, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Hai Qi, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Yijun Qi, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Li-Jia Qu, Peking University, Beijing, China
Yuval Rinkevich, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China
Feng Shao, National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
Song-Hai Shi , Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Hong-Bing Shu, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Bao-Liang Song, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Daolin Tang, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA
Fuchou Tang, Peking University, Beijing, China
Ertao Wang, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai, China
Liping Wang, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
Xiao-Fan Wang, Duke University, Durham, USA
Wensheng Wei, Peking University, Beijing, China
Bailong Xiao, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Peking University, Beijing, China
H Eric Xu, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, CAS, Shanghai, China
Haoxing Xu, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Yanhui Xu, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Tian Xue, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Nieng Yan, Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation, Shenzhen, China
Jian Yang, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Xuebiao Yao, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Chengqi Yi, Peking University, Beijing, China
Hongtao Yu, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
Li Yu, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Jun Yu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Junying Yuan, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, CAS, Shanghai, China
Roberto Zoncu, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
Yi Arial Zeng, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai, China
Chen-Yu Zhang, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Hong Zhang, Institute of Biophysics, CAS, Beijing, China
Mingjie Zhang, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
Qiangfeng Cliff Zhang, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Xu Zhang, Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology, Zhuhai, China
Zemin Zhang, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Bin Zhou, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai, China
Dawang Zhou, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Bing Zhu, Institute of Biophysics, CAS, Beijing, China
Shu Zhu, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
This list will be updated soon