2020:
A preliminary laboratory,
A warm and effective scientific team,
The peaceful and thoughtful family.

2021:
Harvest 1-2 funding(s),
Submit 1-2 manuscript(s),
Keep exercise twice a week,
Balance the work and family better.

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Even in these special and tough days, we are about to launch. We sincerely thank Cell Stem Cell for this great opportunity to briefly introduce our forthcoming lab to the community. The original text is as follows:

Cell Fate and Embryogenesis

Fan Zhou

Tsinghua University

My forthcoming lab focuses on understanding how multi-dimensional molecular architecture (e.g., gene networks coordinated with epigenetic factors) regulate cell fate decisions and transitions during mammalian/human embryogenesis. We aim to integrate single-cell in vitro/vivo functional identification, single-cell omics analysis, and genetic manipulation to link the genome with cumulative cellular phenotypes. Our work mainly includes the following: (1) employing/developing single-cell multi-omics analysis to uncover the molecular patterns of lineage specialization during embryonic development; (2) establishing in vitro/vivo models to understand the regulatory mechanism of cell fate transition during embryogenesis from the phenotypic/functional dimension; and (3) exploring the regulatory principles in embryo implantation and tumor evolution in reproductive system.

With years of training in stem cell and early embryo development, I am excited to have the opportunity to independently carry out research on cell fate and embryogenesis at Tsinghua. Understanding the principles of cell fate will not only shed light on how orderly embryo body plans emerge from a single-cell fertilized egg to build a complex and highly functional organism, but also reveal how potential regulators trigger diseases such as cancer, essentially a disordered transformation of cell fates. I am looking forward to this unfolding journey with all of my future lab members.

Welcome to apply and join us (zhoufanlove@126.com)! We sincerely read all the e-mails.

• 

After being trapped in Hubei for 9 weeks, the day before yesterday, I finally got a chance for the 7th special train (1,135km/4.5 hrs) back to Beijing. It is the second day of my strict self-isolation in Beijing.

1. The Hubei-Beijing special train runs smoothly. Some people wore full-body protective clothing and some took off masks to smoke secretly.
2. In seat ABC, I and a lady beside me took seat BC respectively. Passenger A by the window probably missed the train and became an empty seat there. The lady looked at seat A, then looked at me. Understanding her eyes, I tacitly changed to seat A and the lady certainly nodded with satisfaction… A few minutes later she took off her mask to answer a phone call.
3. Very different from the previous trips, almost no one chatted during the whole journey.
4. When the train arrived at Beijing West Railway Station, there was a big banner “Welcome back to Beijing (欢迎回京)”, and a staff shouted “Welcome home, Beijing is also your home (欢迎回家，北京也是你们的家)”.
5. After going out of the station, according to the administrative region where the residential community is located, they verified our identities in batches, registered again, and distributed us centrally. The crowd was dense but orderly.
6. There are 12 seats in the diverging car, but only 6 seats was taken for distancing us.
7. The staff distributed epidemic prevention kits, including thermometers, drinking water, sachets, wet tissues, and a letter beginning with “my family has been absent for a long time, and the unannounced outbreak prevented you from coming back”.
8. Five staff members of the community have been waiting at the intersection 50 meters away from the entrance of the community. Several security guards at the entrance are not as scared and dodge as the passing residents.
9. The staff installed exclusive surveillance cameras in front of the door in advance. The detailed quarantine requirements and disciplinary regulations were informed at the door, and the seal was affixed.
10. I intended to pick up the express by myself after the quarantine period, but the security guard was worried that I needed it urgently and insisted on helping to deliver it to my home.
11. Predictably, there may be some changes in cooking and weight over the next few days.
    

The planet is in trouble. May we get through it soon!

• 

The whole world is not peaceful with the COVID-19 pandemic around more than 100 countries.

I has been blocked at home for nearly two months since the COVID-19 outbreaks. I have to schedule my work at home although I was never a work-from-home guy before. Mostly I think that the home is too comfortable to work in with high efficiency, plus the freezing winter without any heat-system in south of China. After trying so badly for long, I’m still struggling with efficiency and time coordination. But I do have some progress and tips so far.

Basically, you got three major troubles: wild cold/warm bed, TV and cell phone.

1. Set a daily and feasible mission list.
2. Never settle yourself near the bed. Don’t even think about it about “maybe I can work in bed actually only because the warm bedding “.
3. Manage your time accurately, including the time for meal, sleep, TV, nap, bath, and work.
4. Teeth-brushing always wake you up entirely from the early morning.
5. Stay away from your cell phone.
6. Wear regular shoes, not slippers.
7. Participate in or organize online meetings.

A lot of people would say that they wished the 2020 could been restarted. Sadly, we all know that it will never happen.

So, let’s get though with it together!

• 

Hi, everyone. I’m delighted to announce that the Zhou Lab at Tsinghua is about to launch.

We aim to understand the principle and regulatory mechanisms of cell fate decision/transition during embryonic development and disease evolution, with new technologies of single-cell in vivo and in vitro functional identification, single-cell omics analysis and genetics strategies.

Our work mainly includes the following three directions:

1. Apply and develop new single-cell multi-omics analysis to analyze the molecular expression patterns of lineage specialization during embryonic development;
2. Develop in vivo and in vitro models to understand the regulatory mechanism of cell fate transition during embryonic development at the phenotypic/functional dimension;
3. Explore the regulatory circuit during the embryo implantation and the evolution of reproductive tumors.

Motivated postdocs with expertise in biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, mouse physiology, bioinformatics or biostatistics are encouraged to apply. Please email a cover letter, your CV, and contact information for three references to zhoufanlove(AT)126.com.

The enthusiastic and down-to-earth PhD students/undergraduate interns, who are interested in joining our lab, are also welcome to contact zhoufanlove(AT)126.com directly. Please send a pdf CV.

We read every email.

Come and do some lovely research. Your place at Tsinghua yard is already reserved.

About Fan Zhou

Fan received his PhD training in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development at Dr. Bing Liu’s lab, Academy of Military Medical Sciences. With a developed single-cell-initiated in vivo serial transplantation system, he explored that multiple signalling pathways and transcription factor networks played critical roles during HSC emergence (Li et al., JGG, 2013, Zhou et al., Nature, 2016). Fan subsequently joined Dr. Fuchou Tang’s group at Peking University as a postdoc to study molecular regulating early human embryogenesis. Combining an in vitro simulation of implantation strategy and single-cell omics, Fan reconstituted the gene networks and DNA methylome patterns of human implantation, revealing that lineage-specific gene-expression networks in coordination with epigenetic factors (e.g. DNA methylation) might simultaneously regulate cell fate determination during implantation (Zhou et al., Nature, 2019). Fan has received a number of awards on understanding cell fate transition during embryogenesis, including the Ray Wu Prize from Ray Wu Memorial Fund (2016) and Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program from China Association for Science and Technology (2017). Fan will join the faculty and become a principal investigator (PI) at School of Life Sciences/Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University. The Zhou Lab will focus on cell fate decision during mammalian/human embryo development with single-cell in vitro/vivo functional and omics analysis.

Click here for a Google Scholar file of Fan, the official job advertisement in Chinese, Shuimu Scholar program at Tsinghua University and Postdoctoral fellowship at Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences.