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Liu Nian Ph.D.

Associate Professor

2010 University of Science & Technology of China, China／B.S.

2015 The University of Chicago, USA／Ph.D.

2015－2019 Stanford University, USA／Postdoctoral Fellow

2019－2022 School of Life Sciences & Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, China／Assistant Professor

2022－present School of Life Sciences & Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, China／Associate Professor

Research interest

Transposons, also called mobile DNA elements or ‘jumping genes’, are abundant in almost all living things. In humans, transposons occupy about 50% of the DNA and are still able to mobilize in the human genome. Recent studies show that transposons can affect embryonic development, neurogenesis, and are related with over 100 different types of diseases. However, the detailed mechanism and functions of transposons remain largely unexplored. Through ‘wet lab’ and ‘dry lab’ techniques, we will study the mechanism of transposon regulation and the roles of transposons in development and disease.

Besides, we are also actively exploring the uncharted territories of RNA regulation and function.

Selected publications

1. Li X*, Bie L*, Wang Y*, Hong Y*, Zhou Z, Fan Y, Yan X, Tao Y, Huang C, Zhang Y, Sun X, Li J, Zhang J, Chang Z, Xi Q, Meng A, Shen X, Xie W, Liu N^#. LINE-1 transcription activates long-range gene expression. Nature Genetics (2024) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-024-01789-5.

2. Hong Y*, Bie L*, Zhang T*, Yan X, Jin G, Chen Z, Wang Y, Li X, Pei G, Zhang Y, Hong Y, Gong L, Li P, Xie W, Zhu Y, Shen X, Liu N^#. SAFB restricts contact domain boundaries associated with L1 chimeric transcription. Molecular Cell (2024) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2024.03.021

3. Liu, N.*, Lee, C.*, Swigut, T., Grow, E., Gu, B., Bassik, M.#, and Wysocka, J#. Selective silencing of euchromatic L1s revealed by genome-wide screens for L1 regulators. Nature 553, 228-232 (2018).

4. Liu, N., Dai, Q., Zheng, G., He, C., Parisien, M.#, Pan, T#. N6-methyladenosine-dependent RNA structural switches regulate RNA–protein interactions. Nature 518, 560-564 (2015).

5. Liu, N.*, Pan, T.* N6-methyladenosine-coded RNA Epigenetics. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 23, 98-102 (2016).

6. Liu, N.*, Zhou, K.*, Parisien, M., Dai, Q., Diatchenko, L., and Pan, T#. N6-methyladenosine alters RNA structure to regulate binding of a low-complexity protein. Nucleic Acids Res. 45 (10), 6051-6063 (2017).

7. Liu, N., Parisien, M., Dai, Q., Zheng, G., He, C., and Pan, T#. Probing N6-methyl-adenosine RNA modification status at single nucleotide resolution in mRNA and long noncoding RNA. RNA 19, 1848-1856 (2013).

Awards

Benyuan Fund – Young Investigator Exploration Fellowship in Life Sciences (2024)

Bayer Investigator Award (2020)

Jane Coffin Child Foundation Fellowship (2016-2019)

RNA Society / Scaringe Graduate Student Award (2016)

Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad (2016)

Aldrich Alfred R. Bader Award for Student Innovation (2015)

Contact information

Website: http://liulab.life.tsinghua.edu.cn/

E-mail：liunian88@tsinghua.edu.cn