Dr. Saifeng Cheng did her undergraduate, master, and Ph.D. at the College of Life Science of Technology of Huazhong Agricultural University. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology under the supervision of Prof. Dao-Xiu Zhou in 2017, where she identified the interaction with DNA-binding TF as a general mechanism by which histone H3K27me3 demethylase mediates locus-specific gene activation in plant stem cell differentiation. As a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Yonatan Stelzer at the Weizmann Institute of Science, she pioneered an experimental framework that allows the dissection of cell-intrinsic and extrinsic effects of DNA (de) methylation enzymes during mouse gastrulation. She will join as an assistant professor in School of Life Sciences, Westlake University in 2024.

Cellular differentiation transforms a single-cell zygote into a complex multicellular organism composed of various cell and tissue types. It's fascinating to understand how this is achieved despite genetic homogeneity. Mouse embryonic development serves as a canonical model system for studying mammalian cell fate acquisition, exhibiting high levels of dynamism at the transcriptional, epigenetic, and functional levels. Within such a dynamic system, cell fate is constantly shaped by direct intracellular effects and indirect intercellular signals. It is particularly challenging to understand the regulatory circuit given the broad and pleiotropic nature of epigenetics. Therefore, for accurate interpretation of gene function during gastrulation, it’s becoming essential to deconvolute the potential intracellular effects on different temporal stages and decouple it from effects arising through perturbation of proper signaling from other lineages.

The overarching goal of the lab is to unravel the principle of epigenetic regulation in early cell fate decisions. We employ mouse embryogenesis as a research model and synthesize experimental and computational frameworks to dissect embryonic phenotypes and gene functions, effectively  disentangling cell-intrinsic and non-cell-autonomous effects over time. This endeavor necessitates the integration of knowledge and expertise from various fields, including genetics, epigenetics, stem cell biology, genome editing, and computation.

Current areas of interest include:

· The intrinsic and extrinsic roles of histone modification in mouse embryogenesis.

· Regulatory circuit of cis-regulatory element in cell fate decisions.

· Role of epigenetic factors in extraembryonic lineage development and interactions between embryonic and extraembryonic compartment. 

* These authors contributed equally，^# Co-correspondence

1. Yoav Mayshar*, Ofir Raz*, Saifeng Cheng, Raz Ben-Yair, Ron Hadas, Netta Reines, Markus Mittnenzweig, Oren Ben-Kiki, Aviezer Lifshitz, Amos Tanay^#, Yonatan Stelzer^#. (2023). Time-aligned hourglass gastrulation models in rabbit and mouse. Cell 186, 2610-2627.e18. 10.1016/j.cell.2023.04.037.

2. Marko Dunjić*, Felix Jonas*, Gilad Yaakov*, Roye More, Yoav Mayshar, Yoach Rais, Ayelet-Hashahar Orenbuch, Saifeng Cheng, Naama Barkai, Yonatan Stelzer. (2023). Histone exchange sensors reveal variant specific dynamics in mouse embryonic stem cells. Nat Commun 14, 1–19. 10.1038/s41467-023-39477-3.

3. Saifeng Cheng, Yoav Mayshar, Yonatan Stelzer. (2023). Induced epigenetic changes memorized across generations in mice. Cell 186, 683–685. 10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.023.

4. Saifeng Cheng*, Markus Mittnenzweig*, Yoav Mayshar, Aviezer Lifshitz, Marko Dunjić, Yoach Rais, Raz Ben-Yair, Stephanie Gehrs, Elad Chomsky, Zohar Mukamel, Hernan Rubinstein, Katharina Schlereth, Netta Reines, Ayelet-Hashahar Orenbuch, Amos Tanay^#, Yonatan Stelzer^#. (2022). The intrinsic and extrinsic effects of TET proteins during gastrulation. Cell 185, 3169-3185.e20.

5. Markus Mittnenzweig*, Yoav Mayshar*, Saifeng Cheng, Raz Ben-Yair, Ron Hadas, Yoach Rais, Elad Chomsky, Netta Reines, Anna Uzonyi, Lior Lumerman, Aviezer Lifshitz, Zohar Mukamel, Ayelet-Hashahar Orenbuch, Amos Tanay^#, Yonatan Stelzer^#. (2021). A single-embryo, single-cell time-resolved model for mouse gastrulation. Cell 184, 2825-2842.e22. 10.1016/j.cell.2021.04.004.

6. Alejandro Aguilera-Castrejon*, Bernardo Oldak*, Tom Shani, Nadir Ghanem, Chen Itzkovich, Sharon Slomovich, Shadi Tarazi, Jonathan Bayerl, Valeriya Chugaeva, Muneef Ayyash, Shahd Ashouokhi, Daoud Sheban, Nir Livnat, Lior Lasman, Sergey Viukov, Mirie Zerbib, Yoseph Addadi, Yoach Rais, Saifeng Cheng, Yonatan Stelzer, Hadas Keren-Shaul, Raanan Shlomo, Rada Massarwa, Noa Novershtern, Itay Maza^#, Jacob H Hanna^#. (2021). Ex utero mouse embryogenesis from pre-gastrulation to late organogenesis. Nature 593, 119–124. 10.1038/s41586-021-03416-3.

7. Saifeng Cheng, Feng Tan, Yue Lu, Xiaoyun Liu, Tiantian Li, Wenjia Yuan, Yu Zhao, Dao-Xiu Zhou. (2018). WOX11 recruits a histone H3K27me3 demethylase to promote gene expression during shoot development in rice. Nucleic Acids Res 46, 2356–2369. 10.1093/nar/gky017.

8. Shaoli Zhou,Wei Jiang, Fei Long, Saifeng Cheng, Wenjing Yang, Yu Zhao, and Dao-Xiu Zhou. (2017). Rice Homeodomain Protein WOX11 Recruits a Histone Acetyltransferase Complex to Establish Programs of Cell Proliferation of Crown Root Meristem. Plant Cell 29, 1088–1104. 10.1105/tpc.16.00908.

9.  Yu Zhao*, Saifeng Cheng*, Yaling Song, Yulan Huang, Shaoli Zhou, Xiaoyun Liu, Dao-Xiu Zhou. (2015). The Interaction between Rice ERF3 and WOX11 Promotes Crown Root Development by Regulating Gene Expression Involved in Cytokinin Signaling. Plant Cell 27, 2469–2483. 10.1105/tpc.15.00227.

Full list of publication can be accessed through Google Scholar:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=rYfo4WcAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate 

chengsaifeng@westlake.edu.cn