许多革兰氏阴性细菌的表面存在一类富含淀粉样纤维（β-amyloids），被称为Curli的细胞器。组成Curli的淀粉样纤维和人类的许多退行性疾病密切相关的淀粉样纤维具有相似的生化与结构特征。 Curli的生成是菌膜（biofilm）在形成与建立过程中必不可少的，也代表了一类独特的细菌蛋白质分泌系统，即VIII型细菌蛋白质分泌系统。为了解VIII型细菌蛋白质分泌系统的分泌机理，我们拟用X-射线衍射晶体学，低温冷冻电镜技术，细菌遗传学以及其他生物物理、生物化学手段，研究负责Curli生成的分泌机器的结构与功能。这些研究一方面可以阐明VIII型细菌蛋白质分泌系统的分泌机制，另一方面也可为研发抗菌膜生成药物提供重要结构信息。

Various strains of bacteria are able to produce a unique class of ‘functional’ amyloids termed Curli, which are critical for biofilm formation, host cell adhesion, and colonization of inert surfaces. Curli shares biochemical and structural characteristics with amyloid fibers that have been implicated in many deleterious diseases in humans, and its biogenesis represents the type VIII bacterial secretion system. To uncover the architecture and the molecular mechanisms of the type VIII bacterial secretion system, we propose to determine the structures of the secretion machinery and explore the assembly mechanisms of Curli using a combinational methodologies that include X-ray crystallography, Cryo-EM, bacterial genetics and other biochemical and biophysical approaches. These studies may shed light on the secretion mechanism of the type VIII bacterial secretion system, and provide templates for the development of antibiotics aimed at attenuating biofilm formation.