Hongkui Deng is a Boya Chair professor and a senior investigator at the Center for Life Sciences at Peking University. He is also the director of the Peking University Stem Cell Research Center. 

The focus of research in his laboratory is to address the fundamental questions in regenerative medicine: How a cell's identity is determined during differentiation? How can cell fate be manipulated in vitro and in vivo? His lab has established a technological platform for the application of small molecules to effectively regulate and manipulate cell fate and function. By doing so he has shown for the first time the generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells and functional neurons by reprogramming somatic cells using only small-molecule compounds. He has established stem cell lines with features of totipotency, whose greater developmental potential makes them a promising source for generating functional cells in vitro. His immediate objectives include the directed differentiation of chemically induced human pluripotent stem cells to generate functional pancreatic β cells and hepatocytes. He hopes that these efforts will provide new solutions for the treatment of human diseases.