Zhu Xuechen

Assistant Professor/Associate Researcher

Date of birth: 16 April 1990

Hometown: Luoyang City, Henan Province

Contact Information

E-mail: zhuxc@bjmu.edu.cn

curriculum vitae 

September 2008-June 2012      Bachelor, Sichuan University

September 2012-October 2017   PhD, Tsinghua University

December 2017-December 2019  Postdoctoral Researcher, Tsinghua University

January  2020 -March 2023     Postdoctoral Researcher, Westlake University

April 2023 to present:

Associate Researcher, Embryology Department, School of Basic Medicine, Peking University; Principal Investigator, Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Ministry of Education, Peking University; Associate Researcher, Embryology Department, School of Basic Medicine, Peking University; Principal Investigator, Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Ministry of Education, Peking University

July 2024-present:

National Key Laboratory of Fertility Promotion in Women, Peking University Third Hospital

January 2025-present:

Children's Medical Center, Peking University First Hospital

Research interests

1. Screening of new pathogenic genes and study of pathogenesis of birth defects and rare diseases.

2. Molecular mechanisms of polarity establishment and organ formation during oocyte maturation and early embryonic development.

Research project 

1. National Natural Science Foundation of China general project (32370859)

Study on the function of secretin protein c14orf93 in the establishment of anterior and posterior polarity in vertebrate embryos

Project Leader January 2024-December 2027

2. National Key R&D Program (2023YFA1800300) "Developmental Programming and Its Metabolic Regulation"

The correlation mechanism between cellular metabolic regulation and cell fate determination in embryos

Key project staff December 2023-November 2028

3. Clinical Medicine +X Youth Special Project of Peking University in 2024 (PKU2024LCXQ005)

Study on pathogenic mechanism of oocyte maturation disorder

Project Manager May 2024-December 2024

4. Beijing Natural Science Foundation Key Research Project (Z240020)

Research on New Genes, New Mechanisms and Early Screening System of Embryonic Development and Organ Formation

Project Leader July 2024-June 2028

5. National Key Research and Development Program (2024YFA1802100) "Developmental Programming and Its Metabolic Regulation"

Regulation of Spermatogonial Microenvironment on Development and Differentiation of Reproductive Cells

Key project staff December 2024-November 2029

6. Peking University Medical +X Leading Plan Platform Project (2024YXXLHPT012)

Organoids and Model Animal Platforms for Developmental Disorders and Birth Defects

Key project staff December 2024-November 2026

7. Clinical Medicine +X Youth Special Project of Peking University in 2025 (PKU2025PKULCXQ036)

Study on pathogenic mechanism of oocyte maturation disorder

Project Manager May 2025-December 2025

8. Beijing Science and Technology New Star Project (20250484784)

Application of African clawed frog in rare birth defect research

Project Manager June 2025-June 2028

Research paper (corresponding author #,* first author)

1. Huaxiang Zhao*, Qing He*, Xiantao Wu, Xuqin Liang, Yuhua Jiao, Yue Zhang, Shanying Bao, Linping Xu, Yuxia Hou#, Xuechen Zhu#, Yi Ding#. Identification of rare loss-of-function variants in FAM3B associated with non-syndromic orofacial clefts. Genomics. 2023 May;115(3):110630.

2. Zhu X*, Huang G*, Zeng C*, Zhan X*, Liang K*, Zhao Y, Wang P, Wang Q, Zhou Q, Tao Q, Liu M, Lei J, Yan C, Shi Y. Near-atomic Structure of the Cytoplasmic Ring of the Xenopus laevis Nuclear Pore Complex. Science. 2022 Jun 10;376(6598): eabl8280 (* co-first author)

3. Huang G*, Zhan X*, Zeng C*, Zhu X*, Liang K*, Zhao Y, Wang P, Wang Q, Zhou Q, Tao Q, Liu M, Lei J, Yan C, Shi Y. Cryo-EM structure of the nuclear ring from Xenopus laevis nuclear pore complex. Cell Research. 2022 Apr;32(4):349-358 (* co-first author)

4. Huang G*, Zhan X*, Zeng C*, Liang K*, Zhu X*, Zhao Y, Wang P, Wang Q, Zhou Q, Tao Q, Liu M, Lei J, Yan C, Shi Y. Cryo-EM structure of the Inner Ring from Xenopus laevis Nuclear Pore Complex. Cell Research. 2022 Mar;32(5):451-460. (* co-first author)

5. Zhu X*, Wang P*, Wei J, Li Y, Zhai J, Zheng T, Tao Q. Lysosomal degradation of the maternal dorsal determinant Hwa safeguards dorsal body axis formation. EMBO Reports. 2021 Dec 6;22(12):e53185.

6. Zhang F*, Zhu X*, Wang P*, He Q, Huang H, Zheng T, Li Y, Jia H, Xu L, Zhao H, Colozza G, Tao Q, De Robertis EM, Ding Y. The cytokine FAM3B/PANDER is an FGFR ligand that promotes posterior development in Xenopus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2021 May 18;118(20):e2100342118.

7. Huang G*, Zhang Y*, Zhu X*, Zeng C*, Wang Q, Zhou Q, Tao Q, Liu M, Lei J, Yan C, Shi Y. Structure of the cytoplasmic ring of the Xenopus laevis nuclear pore complex by cryo-electron microscopy single particle analysis. Cell Research. 2020 Jun;30(6):520-531.

8. Zhang Y*, Li S*, Zeng C*, Huang G*, Zhu X*, Wang Q, Wang K, Zhou Q, Yan C, Zhang W, Yang G, Liu M, Tao Q, Lei J, Shi Y. Molecular architecture of the luminal ring of the Xenopus laevis nuclear pore complex. Cell Research. 2020 Jun;30(6):532-540.

9. Yan L*, Chen J*, Zhu X*, Sun J, Wu X, Shen W, Zhang W, Tao Q, Meng A. Maternal Huluwa dictates the embryonic body axis through β-catenin in vertebrates. Science. 2018 Nov 23;362(6417).

10. Lin H*, Zhu X*, Chen G, Song L, Gao L, Khand AA, Chen Y, Lin G, Tao Q. KDM3A-mediated demethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 facilitates the chromatin binding of Neurog2 during neurogenesis. Development. 2017 Oct 15;144(20):3674-3685.

11. Zhu X, Xing R, Tan R, Dai R, Tao Q. The RNF146 E3 ubiquitin ligase is required for the control of Wnt signaling and body pattern formation in Xenopus. Mechanisms of Development. 2017 Oct; 147:28-36.

12. Gao L*, Zhu X*, Chen G, Ma X, Zhang Y, Khand AA, Shi H, Gu F, Lin H, Chen Y, Zhang H, He L, Tao Q. A novel role for Ascl1 in the regulation of mesendoderm formation via HDAC-dependent antagonism of VegT. Development. 2016 Feb 1;143(3):492-503.  

13. Zhu X, Min Z, Tan R, Tao Q. NF2/Merlin is required for the axial pattern formation in the Xenopus laevis embryo. Mechanisms of Development 138 Pt 3, 305-312.

14. Wu QJ*, Zhu X*, Xiao X, Wang P, Xiong da K, Gong CY, Wang YS, Yang L, Wei YQ. A novel vaccine delivery system: biodegradable nanoparticles in thermosensitive hydrogel. Growth Factors. 2011 Dec; 29(6):290-7.

Other papers:

1. Tao Liang*, Jianbo Bai*, Wei Zhou, Hao Lin, Shixin Ma, Xuechen Zhu, Qinghua Tao, Qiaoran Xi#. HMCES modulates the transcriptional regulation of nodal/activin and BMP signaling in mESCs. Cell Reports. 2022 Jul 12;40(2):111038.

2. Nong J, Kang K, Shi Q, Zhu X, Tao Q, Chen YG. Phase separation of Axin organizes the β-catenin destruction complex. Journal of Cell Biology. 2021 Apr 5;220(4):e202012112.

3. Pan X, Li Z, Zhou Q, Shen H, Wu K, Huang X, Chen J, Zhang J, Zhu X, Lei J, Xiong W, Gong H, Xiao B, Yan N. Structure of the human voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.4 in complex with β1. Science. 2018 Oct 19;362(6412).

4. Min Z, Lin H, Zhu X, Gao L, Khand AA, Tao Q. Ascl1 represses the mesendoderm induction in Xenopus. Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica. 2016 Nov;48(11):1006-1015.

5. Shi S, Zhu X, Guo Q, Wang Y, Zuo T, Luo F, Qian Z. Self-assembled mPEG-PCL-g-PEI micelles for simultaneous codelivery of chemotherapeutic drugs and DNA: synthesis and characterization in vitro. International Journal of Nanomedicine. 2012; 7:1749-59.