Research Interests:

I’m focusing on the mammalian early embryogenesis, especially the events at the stages ranging from gastrulation to early organogenesis. To reveal these milestone events, I and my collaborators set up and continuously optimize the mouse and monkey long-term in vitro culture systems, which could support mouse blastocysts developing to heartbeat formation, and support monkey blastocysts developing beyond gastrulation to neurulation stage. Besides, I’m devoting to establish different single-cell multi-omics atlas of primate embryos during these significant stages, to fulfill the knowledge gap of primate gastrulation and organogenesis and provide the basic dataset for natural or disease embryonic development.

Awards and Honors:

Professional Activities:

Research Grants:

Selected Publications:

Zhai, J.#, Xu, Y.#, Wan, H.#, Yan, R.#, Guo, J.#, Skory, R.#, Yan, L., Wu, X., Sun, F., Chen, G., Zhao, W., Yu, K., Li, W., Guo, F.*, Plachta, N.*, and Wang, H.* (2023). Neurulation of the cynomolgus monkey embryo achieved from 3D blastocyst culture. Cell 186, 2078-2091 e2018.（期刊论文） Jiang, X.#, Zhai, J.#, Xiao, Z.#, Wu, X.#, Zhang, D.#, Wan, H., Xu, Y., Qi, L., Wang, M., Yu, D., Liu, Y., Wu, H., Sun, R., Xia, S., Yu, K., Guo, J., and Wang, H. (2023). Identifying a dynamic transcriptomic landscape of the cynomolgus macaque placenta during pregnancy at single-cell resolution. Dev Cell.（期刊论文） Yan, R.#, Cheng, X.#, Gu, C.#, Xu, Y.#, Long, X.#, Zhai, J., Sun, F., Qian, J., Du, Y., Wang, H., and Guo, F. (2023). Dynamics of DNA hydroxymethylation and methylation during mouse embryonic and germline development. Nat Genet 55, 130-143.（期刊论文） Zhai, J.#, Guo, J.#, Wan, H.#, Qi, L.#, Liu, L.#, Xiao, Z., Yan, L., Schmitz, D.A., Xu, Y., Yu, D., Wu, X., Zhao, W., Yu, K., Jiang, X., Guo, F.*, Wu, J.*, and Wang, H.* (2022). Primate gastrulation and early organogenesis at single-cell resolution. Nature 612, 732-738.（期刊论文） Gu, Z.#, Guo, J.#, Zhai, J.#, Feng, G.#, Wang, X., Gao, Z., Li, K., Ji, S., Wang, L., Xu, Y., Chen, X., Wang, Y., Guo, S., Yang, M., Li, L., Han, H., Jiang, L., Wen, Y., Wang, L., Hao, J., Li, W., Wang, S.*, Wang, H.*, and Gu, Q.* (2022). A Uterus-Inspired Niche Drives Blastocyst Development to the Early Organogenesis. Adv Sci (Weinh) 9, e2202282.（期刊论文） Zhai, J.#, Xiao, Z.#, Wang, Y.#, and Wang, H.* (2022). Human embryonic development: from peri-implantation to gastrulation. Trends Cell Biol 32, 18-29.（特邀综述） Ma, H.#, Zhai, J.#, Wan, H.#, Jiang, X.#, Wang, X., Wang, L., Xiang, Y., He, X., Zhao, Z.A., Zhao, B., Zheng, P.*, Li, L.*, and Wang, H.* (2019). In vitro culture of cynomolgus monkey embryos beyond early gastrulation. Science 366, 738. （期刊论文） Jia, Y.#, Cao, N., Zhai, J., Zeng, Q., Zheng, P., Su, R., Liao, T., Liu, J., Pei, H., Fan, Z., Zhou, J., Xi, J., He, L., Chen, L., Nan, X., Yue, W., and Pei, X. (2020). HGF Mediates Clinical-Grade Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improved Functional Recovery in a Senescence-Accelerated Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease. Adv Sci (Weinh) 7, 1903809. （期刊论文） Wang, F., Jia, Y., Liu, J., Zhai, J.#, Cao, N., Yue, W., He, H., and Pei, X. (2017). Dental pulp stem cells promote regeneration of damaged neuron cells on the cellular model of Alzheimer's disease. Cell Biol Int 41, 639-650.