RESEARCH  DESCRIPTION

The long-term goal of our laboratory is to understand the underlying molecular pathogenesis of nervous system diseases using large animal disease models, including non-human primates and pigs. We aim to create proper large animal disease models to simulate the crucial pathological process of neurological diseases that can be observed in humans but not in small animals in order to compensate for the shortcomings of small animal models.

DEGREES & DEUCATION

BS: Shanxi Agriculture University, 2008.

MS: Shihezi University, 2011.

PhD: IGDB, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2017.

Postdoc: Jinan University, 2020.

RECENT SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

(^# First and ^* Corresponding authors)

1. Tu, Z^#., Zhao, H^#., Li, B^#., Yan, S., Wang, L., Tang, Y., Li, Z., Bai, D., Li, C., Lin, Y., et al. (2019). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated disruption of SHANK3 in monkey leads to drug-treatable autism-like symptoms. Hum. Mol. Genet. 28.

2.Yang, W., Liu, Y., Tu, Z., Xiao, C., Yan, S., Ma, X., Guo, X., Chen, X., Yin, P., Yang, Z., et al. (2019). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated PINK1 deletion leads to neurodegeneration in rhesus monkeys. Cell Res. 29.

3. Yan, S^#., Tu, Z^#., Liu, Z^#., Fan, N., Yang, H., Yang, S., Yang, W., Zhao, Y., Ouyang, Z., Lai, C., et al. (2018). A Huntingtin Knockin Pig Model Recapitulates Features of Selective Neurodegeneration in Huntington’s Disease. Cell 173.

4. Zhao, H^#., Z. Tu^#, H. Xu, S. Yan, H. Yan, Y. Zheng, W. Yang, J. Zheng, Z. Li, R. Tian, Y. Lu, X. Guo, Y. H. Jiang, X. J. Li*, and Y. Q. Zhang*. (2017.) Altered neurogenesis and disrupted expression of synaptic proteins in prefrontal cortex of SHANK3-deficient non-human primate, Cell Res. doi:10.1038/cr.2017.95

5. Tu, Z^#., W. Yang^#, S. Yan^#, A. Yin, J. Gao, X. Liu, Y. Zheng, J. Zheng, Z. Li, S. Yang, S. Li, X. Guo*, and X. J. Li*. (2017). Promoting Cas9 degradation reduces mosaic mutations in non-human primate embryos,Sci Rep, 7: 42081.

6. Tu ZC, Weili Yang, Sen Yan, Xiangyu Guo and Xiao-Jiang Li*. CRISPR/Cas9:a powerful genetic engineering tool for establishing large animal models of neuro- degenerative diseases. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2015,DOI:10.1186/s13024-015 -00 31-x

7. Li, X.J*., Tu, Z., Yang, W., and Li, S*. (2017). CRISPR: Established Editor of Human Embryos? Cell Stem Cell 21, 295-296.

8. Yan, S., Tu, Z., Li, S., and Li, X.J*. (2017). Use of CRISPR/Cas9 to model brain diseases. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry.