Professor Jiaqian Wu

Jiaqian Wu, Ph.D. is a Professor with Tenure in the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery and the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), and at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UTHealth.

She has been at UTHealth since 2011 after she finished her Postdoc Fellowship at Stanford.

Jiaqian earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where her research focused on novel mammalian gene discovery and the characterization of transcriptome complexity.

She led the NIH Mammalian Gene Collection effort and cloned thousands of mammalian genes publicly available through GE Dharmacon (now part of Horizon Discovery Group). Read The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC), Identification and analysis of functional elements in 1% of the human genome by the ENCODE pilot project, and Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome.

During her postdoctoral training at Yale University between 2005 and 2009, and at Stanford University until 2011, Jiaqian employed interdisciplinary approaches including molecular and cellular biology and genomics to study gene expression, transcription factor regulation, and regulatory networks of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. She was one of the first to use RNA-Seq to characterize the stem cell neural differentiation process.

Read Dynamic transcriptomes during neural differentiation of human embryonic stem cells revealed by short, long, and paired-end sequencing, RNA polymerase II stalling: loading at the start prepares genes for a sprint, and Systematic analysis of transcribed loci in selected ENCODE regions using RACE sequencing.

Read The ENCODE Project Consortium. The ENCODE pilot project: identification and analysis of functional elements in 1% of the human genome and Integrated analysis of experimental data sets reveals many novel promoters in 1% of the human genome.

In her independent laboratory at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School at Houston, The Wu lab combines neuroscience, stem cell biology, and systems-based approaches involving genomics, bioinformatics, and functional assays to unravel gene transcription and regulatory mechanisms in neurodegeneration and regeneration.

Jiaqian is studying gene expression and the regulation of transcription factors and regulatory RNAs using next-generation sequencing technologies including RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, and ATAC-Seq.

Her studies are crucial in understanding the molecular mechanism of stem cell neural differentiation and its clinical implications. Her goal is to identify and modulate key regulators as therapeutic targets to direct the differentiation of stem cells into desired neural cell types more efficiently, and to increase transplantation safety.

The Wu Lab has performed unprecedented transcriptome profiling for eight highly purified neural cell types from the brain by RNA-Seq. This serves as a widely used data source for the research community and is the most cited paper in the Journal of Neuroscience. They identified a large number of novel lncRNAs, and functional and genetic experiments substantiated the role of lncRNAs in oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) formation for the first time and its role in astrogliosis.

Read An RNA-Sequencing Transcriptome and Splicing Database of Glia, Neurons, and Vascular Cells of the Cerebral Cortex, Comprehensive Identification of Long Non-coding RNAs in Purified Cell Types from the Brain Reveals Functional LncRNA in OPC Fate Determination, and Systematic analysis of purified astrocytes after SCI unveils Zeb2os function during astrogliosis.

One of the neurological diseases that Jiaqian is focusing on is spinal cord injury (SCI). The Wu lab has already published RNA-Seq and single-cell RNA-Seq studies for acute and chronic SCI phases in mouse and rat injury models. Read Identifying Novel Molecular Targets for Chronic SCI.

The Wu lab provides valuable data sources and a powerful analysis framework for functional investigations of coding and long non-coding RNAs in CNS cell types and SCI. She has deposited the complete datasets of purified brain cell types and spinal cord injury in databases displayed using an interactive web browser for analyzing and comparing protein-coding, lncRNA gene transcription as well as alternative splicing profiles.

Read RNA-Seq Characterization of Spinal Cord Injury Transcriptome in Acute/Subacute Phases: A Resource for Understanding the Pathology at the Systems Level, Transcriptome of rat subcortical white matter and spinal cord after spinal injury and cortical stimulation, and The systematic analysis of coding and long non-coding RNAs in the sub-chronic and chronic stages of spinal cord injury.

Wu lab is interested in neuroregeneration and has delineated the heterogeneity of astrocyte lineage cells and glial progenitors in SCI using single-cell RNA-sequencing. They uncovered previously uncharacterized progenitor cell types in adult spinal cord.

Read Glial progenitor heterogeneity and key regulators revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing provide insight to regeneration in spinal cord injury, Glial progenitor heterogeneity and plasticity in the adult spinal cord, and Major Differences in Transcriptional Alterations in Dorsal Root Ganglia Between Spinal Cord Injury and Peripheral Neuropathic Pain Models.

Another important aspect of her research is investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration diseases.

Read The identification of a Distinct Astrocyte Subtype that Diminishes in Alzheimer’s Disease and The Many Faces of Astrocytes in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Her work has been recognized with prestigious honors and awards, including the National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting Travel Award, the National Institute of Health Pathway to Independence (PI) Award (K99/R00), R01s, R21s, and the Senator Lloyd and B.A. Bentsen Investigator Award.

Jiaqian is a reviewer for NIH, New York State Department of Health-Spinal Cord Injury Research Board, MRC, and various high-impact journals.

Jiaqian has presented invited talks and lectures at national and international conferences, universities, and institutions. She has developed a patent, authored two books, and written many articles that have appeared in Cell Reports, PNAS, the Journal of Neuroscience, Stem Cell Reports, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature, among others.

Read Transcriptomics and Gene Regulation.

Visit her LinkedIn profile, her Academic page, her Work Page, and her Google Scholar page.