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

Currently there are two research interests in the laboratory: ciliary biology and application of microalgae. Cilia function in cell motility and signaling, whose defects are linked with numerous human diseases, termed ciliopathies. We aim to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying ciliary assembly and disassembly by using the model organism Chlamydomonas and mammalian cells. We study signaling, microtubule dynamics, protein transport and gene transcription by using genetic, biochemical, cell biological and molecular approaches. In addition, we develop tools to genetically engineer microalgae for commercial applications.

Selected publications

1.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.

2.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.

3.Zhao Q, Li S, Shao S, Wang Z, Pan J*. 2020. FLS2 Is a CDK-like Kinase That Directly Binds IFT70 and Is Required for Proper Ciliary Disassembly in Chlamydomonas. Plos Genet. 16(3):e1008561

4.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.

5.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.

6.Hu J, Liang Y, He W, Pan J *. 2015. Cilia disassembly with two distinct phases of regulation. Cell Reports 10, 1803-1810.

7.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.

8.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