Jie Fan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology
Jie Fan
College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters
Natural Sciences

Teaching Areas:

Biological Sciences

Research Areas:

Bioengineering, Cell biology

Biography and Education

  • Postdoctoral training: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; City University of New York - City College
  • Ph.D.: Beihang University
  • B.S.: Sichuan University

Jie Fan joined the University of Michigan-Dearborn in fall 2020. His study on endothelial cell chirality (handedness) firstly demonstrated that cell chirality is closely related to tissue/organ functions in a human body. His lab focuses on exploring the roles of cell chirality in various aspects related to human health, including heart beating, blood vessel permeability, cancer development, and neurodegeneration. The ultimate endeavor of his lab is to develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for human diseases by utilizing the chiral property of cells.

Selected Publications

Google Scholar

  • Zhang, H., Fan, J., Maclin, J.M.A., and Wan, L.Q. (2023). The Actin Crosslinker Fascin Regulates Cell Chirality. Adv. Biol., e2200240. 10.1002/adbi.202200240.
  • Hang, B., Jassem, E., Mohammed, H., Wan, L.Q., Herschkowitz, J.I., and Fan, J. (2022). Interacting with tumor cells weakens the intrinsic clockwise chirality of endothelial cells. APL Bioeng. 6, 046107. 10.1063/5.0115827.
  • Zhang, H., Fan, J., Zhao, Z., Wang, C., and Wan, L.Q. (2021). Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Proteins on the Chirality of Brain Endothelial Cells. Cell. Mol. Bioeng. 14, 231–240. 10.1007/s12195-021-00669-w.
  • Fan, J., Zhang, H., Rahman, T., Stanton, D.N., and Wan, L.Q. (2019). Cell organelle-based analysis of cell chirality. Commun. Integr. Biol. 12, 78–81. 10.1080/19420889.2019.1605277.
  • Fan, J., Ray, P., Lu, Y.W., Kaur, G., Schwarz, J.J., and Wan, L.Q. (2018). Cell chirality regulates intercellular junctions and endothelial permeability. Sci. Adv. 4, eaat2111. 10.1126/sciadv.aat2111.
  • Ray, P., Chin, A.S., Worley, K.E., Fan, J., Kaur, G., Wu, M., and Wan, L.Q. (2018). Intrinsic cellular chirality regulates left-right symmetry breaking during cardiac looping. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 115, E11568–E11577. 10.1073/pnas.1808052115.