Dr. Duanqing Pei is Chair Professor of Regenerative Biology at School of Life Sciences, Westlake University. Dr. Pei received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991; trained as a postdoctoral fellow at University of Michigan from 1991 to 1996. Dr. Pei began his independent research career in 1996 as Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2002. Then, he joined immediately the Medical Faculty at Tsinghua University. He moved to the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health (GIBH) in 2004. While pursuing his scholarly work, he has been active in building various institutions and organizations including GIBH, GDL(Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory), Hong Kong Center for Regenerative Medicine and Health.

Dr. Pei’s primary interest is to understand cell fate control. His lab pioneered cellular reprograming early. Using reprograming as a paradigm, he discovered:

1) Vitamin C as an epigenetic regulator that enhances cellular reprograming through histone and DNA demethylations;

2) Epithelial to mesenchymal(EMT) and mesen-chymal to epithelial(MET) transitions as drivers for iPSC generation;

3) Urine epithelial cells as a source of stating cells for reprograming. 

He has proposed a chromatin open-close binary logic for cell fate control and an conceptual interface between pluripotent and somatic states. These concepts are still driving current works in the lab.

1. Liu J, Han Q, Peng T, Peng M, Wei B, Li D, Wang X, Yu S, Yang J, Cao S, Huang K, Hutchins AP, Liu H, Kuang J, Zhou Z, Chen J, Wu H, Guo L, Chen Y, Chen Y, Li X, Wu H, Liao B, He W, Song H, Yao H, Pan G, Chen J, Pei D. The oncogene c-Jun impedes somatic cell reprogramming, Nature Cell Biology, 2015;17(7):856-867.

2. Li Q, Hutchins AP, Chen Y, Li S, Shan Y, Liao B, Zheng D, Shi X, Li Y, Chan WY, Pan G, Wei S, Shu X, Pei D. A sequential EMT-MET mechanism drives the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells towards hepatocytes. Nat Commun. 2017;8 15166; DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15166

3. Li D, Liu J, Yang X, Zhou C, Guo J, Wu C, Qin Y, Guo L, He J, Yu S, Liu H, Wang X, Wu F, Kuang J, Hutchins AP, Chen J, & Pei D. Chromatin Accessibility Dynamics during iPSC Reprogramming. Cell Stem Cell 2017 21(6):819-833 e816.

4. Cao, S. T.; Yu, S. Y.; Li, D. W.; Ye, J.; Yang, X. J.; Li, C.; Wang, X. S.; Mai, Y. B.; Qin, Y.; Wu, J.; He, J. P.; Zhou, C. H.; Liu, H.; Zhao, B. T.; Shu, X. D.; Wu, C. M.; Chen, R. P.; Chan, W. Y.; Pan, G. J.; Chen, J. K.; Liu, J.; Pei, D. Q. Chromatin Accessibility Dynamics during Chemical Induction of Pluripotency. Cell Stem Cell  2018, 22, 529-+.

5. Wang, B.; Wu, L.; Li, D.; Liu, Y.; Guo, J.; Li, C.; Yao, Y.; Wang, Y.; Zhao, G.; Wang, X.; Fu, M.; Liu, H.; Cao, S.; Wu, C.; Yu, S.; Zhou, C.; Qin, Y.; Kuang, J.; Ming, J.; Chu, S.; Yang, X.; Zhu, P.; Pan, G.; Chen, J.; Liu, J.; Pei, D. Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts by Jdp2-Jhdm1b-Mkk6-Glis1-Nanog-Essrb-Sall4. Cell Rep 2019, 27, 3473-3485.e3475.

6. Yu, S., Zhou, C., Cao, S., He, J., Cai, B., Wu, K., Qin, Y., Huang, X., Xiao, L., Ye, J., Xu, S., Xie, W., Kuang, J., Chu, S., Guo, J., Liu, H., Pang, W., Guo, L., Zeng, M., Wang, X., Luo, R., Li, C., Zhao, G., Wang, B., Wu, L., Chen, J., Liu, J., Pei, D. BMP4 Resets Mouse Epiblast Stem Cells to Naïve Pluripotency through Zbtb7a/b-mediated Chromatin Remodeling.  Nat Cell Biol. 2020. 22, 651–662.

peiduanqing@westlake.edu.cn