Research Areas

Our lab will start with epigenetic regulation and aging, and investigate the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and the interaction between them. The research team will systematically describe and investigate the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases through the cultivation of human brain-like organs, high-throughput single-cell omics, spatial transcriptomics, and non-human primate models. 

Highlights

Dr. Wen Yuan graduated from China Agricultural University with a bachelor's degree, and his Ph.D. is under the supervision of Dr. Zhu Bing from the National Institute of Biology Sciences, Beijing. Since 2013, he has been working as a postdoctoral fellow and assistant researcher in the Paola Arlotta laboratory at Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology of Harvard University. Dr. Yuan Wen’s main work focuses on the regulation mechanisms of epigenetic enzyme activity, the regulation mechanisms of neuronal maturation, and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. His papers are published in Nature Neuroscience, Science, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Cell Research, etc. Magazine. During his doctoral period, Dr. Yuan Wen systematically investigate how the methylation modification on the 27th lysine of histone H3 was established; the post-doctoral work clarified the specific regulatory mechanism of gene expression during neuronal maturation, suggested the roles of enhancers and promoters in neuronal maturation, and contributed to the further understanding of the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and the search for new treatments.

Honors

• 2012   China Agriculture University，President Scholarship

• 2011   National Institute of Biology Sciences, Beijing，First Prize of Outstanding Graduate Student

• 2011   National Institute of Biology Sciences, Beijing，First Prize of Excellent Poster

Selected Publications

(1) Wen Yuan; Sai Ma; Juliana R. Brown; Kwanho Kim; Vanessa Murek; Lucia Trastulla; Alexander Meissner; Simona Lodato; Ashwin S. Shetty; Joshua Z. Levin; Jason D. Buenrostro; Michael J. Zille r; Paola Arlotta ; Temporally divergent regulatory mechanisms govern neuronal diversification and maturation in the mouse and marmoset neocortex, Nature Neuroscience, 2022, 25: 1049-1058

(2) Yuan, Wen; Wu, Tong; Fu, Hang; Dai, Chao; Wu, Hui; Liu, Nan; Li, Xiang; Xu, Mo; Zhang, Zh uqiang; Niu, Tianhui; Han, Zhifu; Chai, Jijie; Zhou, Xianghong Jasmine; Gao, Shaorong; Zhu, Bing ; Dense Chromatin Activates Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 to Regulate H3 Lysine 27 Methylation, SCIENCE, 2012, 6097(337): 971-975

(3) Wen Yuan; Mo Xu; Chang Huang; Nan Liu; She Chen; Bing Zhu ; H3K36 Methylation Antagonizes PRC2-mediated H3K27 Methylation, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2011, 286(10): 7983-7989

(4) Wen Yuan; Jingwei Xie; Chengzu Long; Hediye Erdjument-Bromage; Xiaojun Ding; Yong Zheng; Paul Tempst; She Chen; Bing Zhu; Danny Reinberg ;

Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein L Is a Subunit of Human KMT3a/Set2 Complex Required for H3 Lys-36 Trimethylation Activityin Vivo, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2009, 284(23): 15701-15707

(5) Simona Lodato; Bradley J Molyneaux; Emanuela Zuccaro; Loyal A Goff; Hsu-Hsin Chen; Wen Yuan; Alyssa Meleski; Emi Takahashi; Shaun Mahony; John L Rinn; David K Gifford; Paola Arlotta ; Gene co-regulation by Fezf2 selects neurotransmitter identity and connectivity of corticospinal neurons, Nature Neuroscience, 2014, 17(8): 1046-1054