CIMR-Zhiqiang Yan

Research Group

Zhiqiang Yan

zqyan(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Lab Website

Investigator

Neurobiology, Sensory Transduction, Ion Channel,

Hearing, Gene Therapy

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zqyan(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Lab Website

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B.S. in Biology, Fudan University, China

Ph.D. in Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Institute of Biology Sciences, Beijing & Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Work Experience

2024-Present

Investigator and Director, Chinese Institute for Medical Physiology, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China

2024-Present

Professor and Dean, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, China

2020-2024

Senior Principal Investigator and Deputy Director, Institute of Molecular Physiology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, China

2013-2020

Professor, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, China

2009-2013

Postdoctoral Researcher, Howard Hughes Medical Institute & University of California at San Francisco, USA

Honors and Awards

2025

The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars

2014

The Shanghai Rising-Star Program

2014

The Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar of Shanghai)

Research Interests

The Yan laboratory has long been committed to neurobiology research, focusing on the identification of sensory receptors and the elucidation of their working mechanisms, while also conducting studies on neural circuits and gene therapy and translational research for neurological diseases. Yan lab's core research directions currently encompass: 1) Identify the receptors for hearing, touch, pain, and thirst sensation, study the gating and assembly of the related sensory transduction complex, and explore their functions in various physiological processes, such as digestion and immunity. 2) Map the critical neuronal groups and circuits for sensation and interoception such as touch, pain, vestibular and thirst sensation. 3) Gene therapy and translational research for neurological diseases.

Major Contributions

1. Demonstrated that TMC1 and TMC2 (TMC1/2) in vertebrates are mechanosensitive ion channels, providing critical evidence for their role as hearing receptors (Neuron, 2020). Furthermore, successfully triumphed over the bottleneck technical challenge of mammalian TMC1/2 proteins heterologous expression in cell lines not being localized to the cell membrane, proving that human TMC1/2 are mechanosensitive ion channels, providing decisive evidence for their role as auditory receptors in hair cells, and unraveling a long-standing enigma in the field of sensory neurobiology (Neuron, 2025).

2. Identified OSCA/TMEM63 family proteins as mechanosensitive ion channels (Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2018). Identified TMEM63B as a mammalian thirst receptor (Neuron, 2025) and revealed TMEM63's role as a humidity sensory receptor in Drosophila (Nature Communications, 2022), indicating an evolutionarily conserved role in water homeostasis.

3. Identified NompC as the touch receptor for Drosophila (Nature, 2013), and demonstrated that the auditory transduction channel in Drosophila is formed by TRPV channel NAN and IAV (PNAS, 2021), revealed the key mechanism by which NompC converts tactile mechanical stimuli into ion channel activity (Cell Reports, 2018; eLife, 2021), systematically explained the mechanotransduction processes underlying touch sensation in Drosophila, ranging from behavioral to atomic level. Together, these work revealed the touch and hearing transduction in Drosophila.

Representative Publications *：Co-first author; #：Co-corresponding author

Fu S*, Pan X*, Lu M*, Dong J, Yan Z^#. Human TMC1 and TMC2 are mechanically gated ion channels. Neuron, 2025, 113: 411-425. DOI: 10.1016/j. neuron. 2024.11.009

Zou W*, Deng S*, Chen X*, Ruan J*, Wang H, Zhan W, Wang J, Liu Z, Yan Z^#. TMEM63B functions as a mammalian hyperosmolar sensor for thirst. Neuron, 2025, 113: 1430-1445. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.02.012

Zheng H*, Yan X*, Li G, Lin H, Deng S, Zhuang W, Yao F, Lu Y, Xia X, Yuan H, Jin L, Yan Z^#. Proactive functional classification of all possible missense single-nucleotide variants in KCNQ4. Genome Research, 2022, 32: 1573-1584. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.58388

Li S, Li B, Gao L, Wang J, Yan Z^#. Humidity response in Drosophila olfactory sensory neurons requires the mechanosensitive channel TMEM63. Nature Communications, 2022, 13: 3814. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31253-z

Li B*, Li S*, Zheng H, Yan Z^#. Nanchung and Inactive define pore properties of the native auditory transduction channel in Drosophila. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021, 118: e2106459118. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106459118

Wang Y*, Guo Y*, Li G, Liu C, Wang L, Zhang A, Yan Z^#, Song C^#. The push-to-open mechanism of the tethered mechanosensitive ion channel NompC. eLife, 2021, 10: e58388. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.58388

Jia Y*, Zhao Y*, Kusakizako T*, Wang Y, Pan C, Zhang Y, Nureki O^#, Hattori M^#, Yan Z^#. TMC1 and TMC2 proteins are pore-forming subunits of mechanosensitive ion channels. Neuron, 2020, 105: 310–321. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.017

Zhang M, Wang D, Kang Y, Wu JX, Yao F, Pan C, Yan Z^#, Song C^#, Chen L^#. Structure of the mechanosensitive OSCA channels. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2018, 25: 850–858. DOI: 10.1038/s41594-018-0117-6

Zhang M*, Li X*, Zheng H, Wen X, Chen S, Ye J, Tang S, Yao F, Li Y^#, Yan Z^#. Brv1 is required for Drosophila larvae to sense gentle touch. Cell Reports, 2018, 23: 23-31. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.03.041