Lijuan Feng, PhD
Assistant Professor of Genetics and Pathology & Immunology
- Email: l.feng@nospam.wustl.edu
Education
BS, Biology: University of Science and Technology of China, China (2010)
PhD, Molecular and Developmental Biology: Johns Hopkins University, USA (2016)
Research Interests
Our lab seeks to answer a fundamental question: What is the role of chromatin in both normal and diseased cells? Chromatin integrates extracellular signals to regulate essential cellular processes, including DNA replication, repair, and gene expression. It consists of DNA wrapped around histone proteins, which are encoded by multiple gene copies (e.g., 15 genes per haploid genome for histone H3). Remarkably, mutations in just one of several copies of histone genes have recently been identified in various cancer types and developmental disorders. Studies of cancer-associated mutations in the histone variant H3.3—known as classical oncohistones—have uncovered new chromatin regulatory mechanisms and revealed potential therapeutic targets. However, how germline histone mutations influence developmental processes, and whether newly identified oncohistones drive tumorigenesis, remain largely unknown. Our lab aims to use disease-associated histone mutations as powerful tools to uncover how chromatin dysregulation contributes to developmental abnormalities, brain inflammation, and tumor formation.
Honors and Awards
- NIH Pathway to Independence Award K99/R00 (2022-present)
- C. H. Li Memorial Scholar Fund Award, Rockefeller University (2018-2019)
- Oppenheimer Thesis Award, Johns Hopkins University (2017)
- National Endeavor Fellowship, University of Science and Technology of China (2009)
- Outstanding Student Scholarship, University of Science and Technology of China (2007-2009)
Selected Publications
- The expanding landscape of ‘oncohistone’ mutations in human cancers
- Altered chromatin occupancy of patient-associated H4 mutants misregulate neuronal differentiation.
- Loss of UTX/KDM6A and the activation of FGFR3 converge to regulate differentiation gene-expression programs in bladder cancer.
- Enhancer of polycomb maintains germline activity and genome integrity in Drosophila testis.
- Enhancer of polycomb coordinates multiple signaling pathways to promote both cyst and germline stem cell differentiation in the Drosophila adult testis.