Dr. Xin Jin obtained bachelor degrees in Biological Science and Statistics from Peking University in Beijing, China. He pursued graduate studies with Dr. Joan Massagué at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, United States, and obtained PhD from Cornell University and MSK. Following his graduate training, Jin joined Dr. Todd Golub's lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard as a Susan G. Komen Fellow, during which he developed Metastasis Map. Jin then became Lead Scientist of the MIDAS Team at the Broad Institute, leading in vivo cancer dependency discovery in collaboration with Calico Life Sciences. Dr. Jin joined Westlake University in 2021 as the Principal Investigator of NextGen Cancer Research Laboratory.

The Jin Lab integrates multidisciplinary approaches to interrogate the molecular underpinnings of cancer. Cancer arises from one’s own flesh. It is a result of genetic and epigenetic alterations that lead to uncontrollable cell proliferation. Cancer cells are built upon the gene circuitry written for their lineage but evolve on the oncogenic program and co-evolve with the microenvironment they grow in, acquiring malignant properties such as metastatic potential. Metastatic potential – the ability to invade, adapt, and outgrow in sites beyond its origin – is a hallmark of cancer, a deadly hallmark that accounts for 90% of patient deaths.

Our research centers around the molecular determinants of metastatic cancer and strives to find therapeutic targets for tackling this deadly disease. We are establishing a next-generation cancer research framework that combines high-throughput technologies and in vivo models that are more physiologically recapitulative of patient settings, unleashing their power for large-scale metastasis mechanism exploration. We incorporate perturbational, single cell, and spatial genomics tools to chart tumor evolution and therapeutic response in space and time, identifying unmarked oncotargets with selectivity and therapeutic index. We utilize machine learning and bioinformatic approaches for biomarker and resistance mechanism discovery. Through these efforts we aim to make impactful findings that are translatable to precision medicine for metastatic cancer.

1. Mapping metastasis

We are developing novel high-throughput technologies to create the 2nd generation Metastasis Map (MetMap) that describes a panorama of metastasis portraits at cellular, tissue, and organ scales for hundreds of human cancers. We integrate single cell and spatial genomics tools with machine learning to unveil the molecular drivers of metastatic potential.  

2. Identifying oncotargets

We are harnessing cutting-edge CRISPR perturbation technologies to enable in vivo cancer dependency discovery. These in vivo screens are revealing unmarked oncotargets that underpin cancer survival and growth as cells adapt to the microenvironmental and nutritional constraints in different organs. The studies are expected to pinpoint targets with therapeutic index for precision medicine as the genetic, cellular, and environmental contexts vary. 

3. Reconstructing tumor ecosystems  

Having the ability to culture cancer cells outside of patient bodies provides a means for cancer mechanism exploration. Nevertheless, concerns have been raised regarding the relevance of such findings given that cell lines have been propagated for long in non-physiological conditions that lack the environmental and metabolic complexity as seen in actual tumors. We are establishing new capacities that overcome these limitations and that reconstruct key aspects of the tumor ecosystem in tissue culture. These newly engineered culture systems have the potential to bring physiological relevance to high-throughput genetic screening and drug screening. 

1. Jin X*, Demere Z, Nair K, Ali A, Ferraro GB, Natoli T, Deik A, Petronio L, Tang AA, Zhu C, Wang L, Rosenberg D, Mangena V, Roth J, Chung K, Jain RK, Clish CB, Vander Heiden MG, Golub TR*. A metastasis map of human cancer cell lines. Nature. 588:331-336, 2020 (*Corresponding author).

2. Chen Q, Boire A, Jin X, Valiente M, Er MM, Lopez-Soto A, Jacob L, Patwa R, Shah H, Xu K, Cross JR, Massagué J. Carcinoma-astrocyte gap junctions promote brain metastasis by cGAMP transfer. Nature. 533:493-498, 2016.

3. Malladi S, Macalinao DG, Jin X, He L, Basnet H, Zou Y, de Stanchina E, Massagué J. Metastatic Latency and Immune Evasion through Autocrine Inhibition of WNT. Cell. 165:45-60, 2016.

4. Valiente M, Obenauf AC, Jin X, Chen Q, Zhang XH, Lee DJ, Chaft JE, Kris MG, Huse JT, Brogi E, Massagué J. Serpins promote cancer cell survival and vascular co-option in brain metastasis. Cell. 156:1002-16, 2014.

5. Zhang XH#, Jin X#, Malladi S, Zou Y, Wen YH, Brogi E, Smid M, Foekens JA, Massagué J. Selection of bone metastasis seeds by mesenchymal signals in the primary tumor stroma. Cell. 154:1060-73, 2013 (#Co-first author).

Email: jinxin@westlake.edu.cn

We now have job openings for Scientists, Postdoctoral Fellows, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Interns, and Research Assistants, and we welcome candidates from all levels to apply! We deeply believe the success of a research team roots in the success of its every member, and we are committed to establish a scientific environment that is vibrant, creative, and synergistic.