Junmin Pan Ph.D.
Professor
1986 Hebei Normal University, China／B.S.
1989 Institute of Hydrobiology, Academia Sinica, China／M.S.
1996 University of Freiburg, Germany／P h .D.
1997－1999 UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA／Postdoctoral Fellow
2000－2006 UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA／Research Assistant Professor
2006-present School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, China／Professor
Research interest
The laboratory currently focuses on two main research areas: ciliary biology and synthetic biology of microalgae. Cilia are organelles involved in cell motility and signaling, and their dysfunction is associated with a range of human diseases and developmental disorders known as ciliopathies. Using the model organism Chlamydomonas and mammalian cell systems, we aim to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that regulate ciliary motility, ciliary assembly and disassembly. In a parallel effort, we are also developing genetic engineering tools to modify microalgae for commercial and industrial applications.
Selected publications
1. Wang Z., He R., Liu Q., Snell W. J.*, Cao, M.*, Pan, J.* 2025. A lipid flippase shapes the ciliary membrane and is essential for ciliogenesis. Curr Biol. 35:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cin.2025.10.014
2. Zhang Y., Yang X., Pan J.*. 2025. Chlamydomonas protein kinase MAK phosphorylates FAP256/CEP104 and regulates axonemal microtubule assembly. PNAS. 22:e2503094122
3. Xu J*, Zhang Y., Pan, J.* 2025. Primary Cilia- Mediated Hedgehog Signaling Regulates Cell Fate During ER Stress Induced Life or Death Decisions. FASEB J. 39:e70982.
4. Li X., Zhang, Y., Wen X., Pan J.* 2024. Utilizing codon degeneracy in the design of donor DNA for CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing to streamline the screening process for single amino acid mutations. Plant J. 119(4):2133-2143.
5. Junhao Huang, Hui Tao, Jikun Chen, Yang Shen, Jianlin Lei, Junmin Pan*, Chuangye Yan* and Nieng Yan*. 2024. Structure-guided discovery of protein and glycan components in native mastigonemes. Cell. 187:1733-1744.
6. Pan J. 2023. Ciliary disassembly. In The Chlamydomonas Sourcebook. Volume 3 – Cell Motility and Behavior (ed. S. Dutcher), pp. 357-372，Oxford, UK: Elsevier, Inc.
7. Wang L, Li X, Liu G, Pan J.* 2022. FBB18 participates in preassembly of almost all axonemal dyneins independent of R2TP complex. PLos Genet. 18(8):e1010374.
8. Zhu X, Wang J, Li S, Lechtreck K, Pan J.* 2021. IFT54 directly interacts with kinesin-II and IFT dynein to regulate anterograde intraflagellar transport. EMBO J 40: e105781.
9. Li S, Wan KY, Chen W, Tao H, Liang X*, Pan J.* 2020. Functional exploration of heterotrimeric kinesin-II in IFT and ciliary length control in Chlamydomonas. eLife 9:e58868.
10. Liang Y, Zhu X, Wu Q, Pan J.* 2018. Ciliary Length Sensing Regulates IFT Entry via Changes in FLA8/KIF3B Phosphorylation to Control Ciliary Assembly. Curr Biol. 28(15), 2429-2435.
11. Zhu B, Zhu X, Wang L, Liang Y, Feng Q, Pan J.* 2017. Functional exploration of the IFT-A complex in intraflagellar transport and ciliogenesis. PLoS Genet. 13(2):e1006627.
12. Hu J, Liang Y, He W, Pan J.* 2015. Cilia disassembly with two distinct phases of regulation. Cell Reports 10, 1803-1810.
13. Liang Y, Pang Y, Wu Q, Hu Z, Han X, Xu Y, Deng H, Pan J.* 2014. FLA8/KIF3B phosphorylation regulates kinesin-II interaction with IFT-B to control IFT entry and turnaround. Dev Cell. 30, 585-597.
14. Cao M, Meng D, Wang L, Bei S, Snell WJ*, Pan J.* 2013. Activation loop phosphorylation of a protein kinase is a molecular marker of organelle size that dynamically reports flagellar length. PNAS, 110, 12337-42.
Contact information
School of Life Sciences
Tsinghua University
Haidian district, Beijing 100084
P. R. China
Tel. /Fax: 0086-10-62771864
Email: panjunmin@tsinghua.edu.cn
