Latest Research
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29 Sep
Plants that fight back: scientists eng…
Plants that fight back: scientists engineer disease-resistant cropsA modification to plant proteins helps them recognize and attack pathogens such as viruses.Crop diseases are a huge drain on our food supply. The soybean mosaic disease, for example, is a highly destructive infection that leads to billions of dollars in losses on soybean yields every year around the world. For decades, farmers h...
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15 Sep
Wei Xie’s group reports on the esta…
During early animal embryonic development, the parental genomes undergo extensive three-dimensional chromatin restructuring after fertilization. Topologically associating domains (TADs) and compartments rapidly dissolve, leaving chromatin in a highly relaxed state. The gradual reestablishment of higher-order chromatin architecture coincides with zygotic genome activation (ZGA), a highly conserv...
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06 Aug
Wei Xie’s group and Liu Lin’s group …
A joint team led by Prof. Wei Xie from the School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University and Prof. Lin Liu from the School of Life Sciences at Nankai University uncovered a novel mechanism by which Usp17l, a gene family activated during minor zygotic genome activation (ZGA), regulates the 2-cell-like program at both the transcriptional and post-translational levels. Their study, titled "USP17L...
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26 Jul
Fan Zhou’s group uncovers DNA methylo…
DNA methylation (DNAme) plays important roles in transcriptional regulation, genomic imprinting, X chromosome inactivation, cell fate, and state transition. Several studies have revealed global reprogramming of DNAme along mammalian embryogenesis. However, a systemically integrated, technology-neutral, high resolution, cross-species analysis of DNAme-RNA expression networks during peri-implanta...
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22 Jul
Zhi John Lu’s team published an AI mo…
Recently, Zhi John Lu’s research group from the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University, and collaborators, published a research paper titled "RNA-ligand interaction scoring via data perturbation and augmentation modeling" in Nature Computational Science [1]. This study breaks through the limitation of traditional drug design methods that rely on three-dimensional structures. In v...
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02 Jul
Wei Xie’s group, Yu Zhang’s group an…
June 13, 2025 — Beijing, China — In a research paper entitled "H2A.Z is essential for oocyte maturation and fertility in female mouse " published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, a collaborative research team led by Wei Xie’s team from Tsinghua University, in partnership with Yu Zhang’s group from Fudan University and Yunlong Xiang’s group from Chongqing Medical University, has re...
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19 Jun
Kun Li's group at the School of Life S…
Across evolution, interactions between the sexes have been essential for reproduction and survival. Yet one longstanding mystery remains: why does a female’s interest in sociosexual interactions rise and fall with her reproductive cycle? Female interest in mating typically peaks around ovulation, driven by hormonal changes. While the hormonal influence on mating behavior has been well document...
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19 Jun
Guangshuo Ou’s Lab at School of Life …
As molecular motors of the microtubule cytoskeleton, kinesin families play a vital role in intracellular transport. Like other ATPases, the activity of kinesins must be precisely regulated. Evidence showed that dysregulation of kinesin activity is linked to human neurodegenerative diseases. However, how cells instruct kinesins on when and where to function remains a mystery.On April 24, 2025, P...
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26 May
Tsinghua University researchers identi…
As global temperatures continue to rise, understanding how plants perceive and respond to heat stress has become a critical challenge for ensuring agricultural productivity and food security.In a groundbreaking study published in Cell Research, a team led by Associate Professor Xiaofeng Fang from School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University, in collaboration with researchers from Shenzhen Bay...
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19 May
Dong Li’s Team at the School of Life …
Within the three-dimensional space of cells and tissues, intricate biological processes operate with continuous precision and order, sustaining the fundamental functions essential for life. Light-sheet microscopy (LSM), currently the most suitable modality for three-dimensional imaging of multicellular and large-volume specimens, employs two orthogonally arranged objective lenses to perform she...