Dr. SUN YI EVE is a leading scientist in neural stem cell biology, neural repair, and autism spectrum disorders. She is a Chair Professor and Principal Investigator at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SUAT) and Executive Director of the Shanghai Institute of Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation. Previously, she was a tenured professor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Associate Academic Director of its Stem Cell Institute. Her groundbreaking research includes studying MECP2 gene function in neural stem cells and establishing disease models for Rett syndrome. She was the first to use gene-editing to create non-human primate models of Rett syndrome, publishing inCell Stem CellandCell. She also identified CD133-positive ependymal cells as key for neural regeneration (Cell). Her research extends to gut microbiota and immune system interactions in central nervous system (CNS) diseases and reprogramming fibroblasts into rejuvenated mesenchymal stem cells, “Prometheus Cells”, for treating ALS and aging. Dr. Sun has published over 130 papers, including inCell,Nature, andScience, with more than 20,000 citations and an H-index of 68. She has received numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Beckman Young Investigator Award, and Shanghai Science and Technology Awards, and serves on key scientific boards.

Through extensive research on neural stem cells (NSCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and various neurological disorders such as Rett Syndrome, ALS, PD, AD, and spinal cord injury, we have identified neural inflammation as a key factor in the pathogenesis of these conditions. We propose that neural repair could be achieved by creating a non-inflammatory, neurotrophic microenvironment in the CNS using small molecules, biomaterials, exosomes, or stem cells. This environment would enable damaged neurons to adapt and compensate for lost functions or promote the regeneration of new neurons by NSCs. To advance this concept, we initiated large-scale single-cell RNA sequencing to catalog the features of each cell type, establishing a“Tool Cell Atlas”to better understand the biology behind neural repair. Additionally, our“Cell Convertor”program focuses on reprogramming human autologous cells into therapeutic cells to improve the CNS microenvironment and replace damaged neurons. Lastly, we employ systems biology approaches to explore the interactions between gut microbiota, immune systems, and neuronal function, aiming to target CNS diseases through peripheral interventions, including reprogramming monocytes into therapeutic cells.

Education

1990-1995: Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Case Western Reserve University, USA

1983-1987:B.S.in Biochemistry, Fudan University, China

Professional Experience

2022-Present: Chair Professor, Department of Biology, School of Life and Health Sciences, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology

2012-2022: Full Professor (tenured), Departments of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Molecular Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, USA

2007-2012: Associate Professor (tenured), Departments of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Molecular Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, USA

2001-2007: Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Departments of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Molecular Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, USA

1996-2001: Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard Medical School, USA

Selected publications

[1]Yan Y#, Sun D#, Hu J#, Sun L, Yu H, Xiong Y, Huang Z, Xia H, Zhu X, Bian D, Sun F, Chen Y, Hou L, Wu C, Fan O R, Zeng A*, Zhang L*,Sun Y E*, Wang C*, and Zhang P* (2025). Cellular landscapes of NSCLC microenvironment associated with resistance to immune-chemotherapy[J].Nature Genetics, 57, 126–139.

[2]Long J#, Chen X#, Shen Y#, Lei Y#, Mu L#, Xiang R, Gao W, Wang L, Wang L,Jiang J, Zhang W, Lu H, Dong Y, Ding Y, Zhu H, Hong D*,Sun Y E*, Hu J*, and Liang A*. A combinatorial therapeutic approach to enhance FLT3-ITD AML treatment[J].Cell Reports Medicine, 2023, 4(11):101286.

[3]Wu D#, Liu J#, Liu J#, Ge W#, Wu S, Zeng C, Liang J, Liu K, Lin Q, Hong X*,Sun Y E*, and Lu J *. Immune pathway activated in neurons triggers neural damage after stroke[J].Cell Reports, 2023, 42(1): 113368.

[4]Zhang Y#, Li S, Jin P, Shang T, Sun R, Lu L, Guo K, Liu J, Tong Y, Wang J, Liu S, Wang C, Kang Y, Zhu W, Wang Q, Zhang X, Yin F,Sun Y E*, and Cui L*.Dual functions of microRNA-17 in maintaining cartilage homeostasis and protection against osteoarthritis[J].Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1): 2447.

[5]Li C#, Wu Z#, Zhou L#, Shao J, Hu X, Xu W, Ren Y, Zhu X, Ge W, Zhang K, Liu J, Huang R, Yu J, Luo D, Yang X, Zhu W, Zhu R, Zheng C,Sun Y E*, and Cheng L*. Temporal and spatial cellular and molecular pathological alterations with single-cell resolution in the adult spinal cord after injury[J].Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2022, 7(1): 65.

[6]Liu J#, Wang J#, Xu J#, Xia H#, Wang Y#, Zhang C, Chen W, Zhang H, Liu Q, Zhu R, Shi Y, Shen Z, Xing Z, Gao W, Zhou L, Shao J, Shi J, Yang X, Deng Y, Wu L, Lin Q, Zheng C, Zhu W, Wang C*,Sun Y E*, and Liu Z*. Comprehensive investigations revealed consistent pathophysiological alterations after vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines[J].Cell Discovery, 2021, 7(1): 99.

[7]Chen X#*, Han X#, Blanchi B#, Guan W, Ge W, Yu Y*,Sun Y E*. Graded and panneuronal disease phenotypes of Rett Syndrome linked with dosage of functional MeCP2[J].Protein & Cell, 2021, 12(8): 639-652.

[8]Chen Y#*, Yu J#, Niu Y#, Qin D#, Liu H#, Li G, Hu Y, Wang J, Lu Y, Kang Y, Jiang Y, Wu K, Li S, Wei J, He J, Wang J, Liu X, Luo Y, Si C, Bai R, Zhang K, Liu J, Huang S, Chen Z, Wang S, Chen X, Bao X, Zhang Q, Li F, Geng R, Liang A, Shen D, Jiang T, Hu X, Ma Y, Ji W*, andSun Y E*. Modeling Rett syndrome using TALEN-edited MECP2 mutant cynomolgus monkeys[J].Cell, 2017, 169(5): 945-955.

[9]Luo Y#, Coskun V#, Liang A#, Yu J#, Cheng L#, Ge W, Shi Z, Zhang K, Li C, Cui Y, Lin H, Luo D, Wang J, Lin C, Dai Z, Zhu H, Zhang J, Liu J, Liu H, Vellis J D, Horvath S,Sun Y E*, and Li S*. Single-cell transcriptome analyses reveal signals to activate dormant neural stem cells[J].Cell, 2015, 161(5): 1175-1186.

[10]Wu H#*, Coskun V, Tao J, Xie W, Ge W, Yoshikawa K, Li E, Zhang Y, andSun Y E*. Dnmt3a-dependent nonpromoter DNA methylation facilitates transcription of neurogenic genes[J].Science, 2010, 329(5990): 444-448.

[11]Liu H#, Chen Y, Niu Y, Zhang K, Kang Y, Ge W, Liu X, Zhao E, Wang C, Lin S, Jing B, Si C, Lin Q, Chen X, Lin H, Pu X, Wang Y, Qin B, Wang F, Wang H, Si W, Zhou J, Tan T, Li T, Ji S, Xue Z, Luo Y, Cheng L, Zhou Q, Li S,Sun Y E*, and Ji W*. TALEN-mediated gene mutagenesis in rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys[J].Cell Stem Sell, 2014, 14(3): 323-328.

[12]Coskun V#, Wu H, Blanchi B, Tsao S, Kim K, Zhao J, Biancotti J C, Hutnick L, Krueger Jr R C, Fan G, Vellis J D, andSun Y E*. CD133+ neural stem cells in the ependyma of mammalian postnatal forebrain[J].PNAS, 2008, 105(3): 1026-1031.

[13]He F#, Ge W, Martinowich K, Becker-Catania S, Coskun V, Zhu W, Wu H, Castro D, Guillemot F, Fan G, Vellis J D, andSun Y E*. A positive autoregulatory loop of Jak-STAT signaling controls the onset of astrogliogenesis[J].Nature Neuroscience, 2005, 8(5): 616-625.

[14]Martinowich K#, Hattori D, Wu H, Fouse S, He F, Hu Y, Fan G*, andSun Y E*. DNA methylation-related chromatin remodeling in activity-dependent BDNF gene regulation[J].Science, 2003, 302(5646): 890-893.

[15]Sun Y E#, Nadal-Vicens M, Misono S, Lin M Z, Zubiaga A, Hua X, Fan G, and Greenberg M E*. Neurogenin promotes neurogenesis and inhibits glial differentiation by independent mechanisms[J].Cell, 2001, 104(3): 365-376.

Selected Scientific research project

[1]Mechanisms and Theoretical Research on Neural Injury and Repair Based on Multimodal Data and Intelligent Image Analysis

Funding Agency: Ministry of Science and Technology of China (National Key R&D Program – BT and IT Integration)

Total Funding: ¥3,120,000

Personal Funding: ¥1,500,000

Duration: 2024–2027

Role: Principal Investigator

[2]Shenzhen Concept Validation Center for Neurological Disease Interventions

Funding Agency: Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission

Total Funding: ¥3,000,000

Duration: 2023–2025

Role: Principal Investigator

[3]Systemic Etiological Networks and Immune-Nervous System Interactions in ALS

Funding Agency: Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (Key Research Area Project for Universities)

Total Funding: ¥200,000

Duration: 2024–2027

Role: Principal Investigator

[4]Targeted Therapy and Fundamental Research on Neurological Diseases

Funding Agency: Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (Natural Science Foundation)

Total Funding: ¥2,000,000

Personal Funding: ¥1,600,000

Duration: 2025–2027

Role: Principal Investigator

[5]Studying Neurotransmission of Normal and Diseased Human ES Cell-Derived Neurons In Vivo

Funding Agency: CIRM (RB3-02129)

Total Funding: $900,000

Duration: 2011–2015

Role: Principal Investigator

[6]Epigenetic Control of Neurogenesis in Different hESC Lines

Funding Agency: NIH (FDP-NIH, PO1 GM081621)

Total Funding: $1,125,000

Duration: 2008–2013

Role: Principal Investigator (Project 1)

[7]A Novel Approach to Identify Neuronal mRNA Targets for Individual microRNAs

Funding Agency: NIH (FDP-NIH, EUREKA RO1 MH084095)

Total Funding: $900,000

Duration: 2008–2012

Role: Principal Investigator

[8]Function of MeCP2 in hESC-Derived Neurons

Funding Agency: NIH (FDP-NIH, RO MH082068-01A2)

Total Funding: $900,000

Duration: 2009–2013

Role: Principal Investigator

[9]TrkB Agonist(s) as a Potential Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorders

Funding Agency: NIH (FDP-NIH, R21 MH089518-01)

Total Funding: $350,000

Duration: 2009–2011

Role: Principal Investigator

[10]JAK-STAT Signaling During CNS Development

Funding Agency: NIH (FDP-NIH, RO1 MH066196)

Total Funding: $1,125,000

Duration: 2004–2009

Role: Principal Investigator

Selected Awards

[1]2002, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow

[2]2002, Beckman Young Investigator Award

[3]2002, Whitehall Foundation Research Award

[4]2003, Stein-Oppenheimer Endowment Award

[5]2003, Klingenstein Neuroscience Research Award

[6]2007, Rett Syndrome Foundation Research Award

[7]2015, NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award

[8]2017, Shanghai Science and Technology Award for International Collaboration

[9]2023, Shanghai Natural Science Award

[10]2024, European Academy of Natural Sciences Nikolay Pirogov Order

Other Notable Achievements

[1]2017 “Top Ten Scientific Advances in China”

[2]2024“Excellent Scientific Research Achievement Innovation Award”at the 26th China International High-Tech Achievements Trade Fair