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Gene Regulation and Design Group
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Gene Regulation and Design Group · Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences · Shanghai

How does gene regulation shape cell fate?

Understand what transcription factors and cofactors do, design new regulators, and reshape cell states.

From a landscape painting to a cell-state landscapeAs you scroll, the blue-green landscape painting turns into a conceptual landscape of cell states. The cell on the left sits on a ridge, with no path; the other two cells move down dashed paths along the basin walls, one cell to each path. The river and the bridge pavilion turn into DNA, a transcription factor and a cofactor. The brushed vertical inscription fades, and the research question and the scientific labels appear.

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry · Shanghai

Understand gene regulation, design cell states.

Research in detail

We study how transcription factors and cofactors regulate gene expression and shape cell fate, and we design new regulators to explore how cell states change in aging and neurodegenerative disease.

  • Understand: Starting from protein sequences and molecular interactions, we trace how gene regulation connects to cell fate.
  • Design: We design and synthesize regulators, and use high-throughput experiments to learn how to change cell states on purpose.
  • Integrate: We connect evidence across molecules, cells and organisms, build models, and propose and test new hypotheses.

Selected publications

All publications

  1. Single-cell DNA methylome and 3D multi-omic atlas of the adult mouse brain

    Liu H*, Zeng Q*, Zhou J, …, Ecker JR

    Nature 2023 · DOI · PMID 38092913 · Code

  2. Single nucleus multi-omics identifies human cortical cell regulatory genome diversity

    Luo C*, Liu H*, Xie F*, …, Ecker JR

    Cell Genomics 2022 · DOI · PMID 35419551 · Code

  3. DNA methylation atlas of the mouse brain at single-cell resolution

    Liu H*, Zhou J*, Tian W, …, Ecker JR

    Nature 2021 · DOI · PMID 34616061 · Code · ALLCools

  4. A transcriptomic and epigenomic cell atlas of the mouse primary motor cortex

    Yao Z*, Liu H*, Xie F*, …, Mukamel EA

    Nature 2021 · DOI · PMID 34616066

* Equal contribution.

Join us

How to join

We are recruiting PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and undergraduates.

The lab is being set up and is expected to open in mid-2027. Stay tuned.