Prof. Min-Jie Shen
Principal Investigator
Research Directions
Molecular mechanism of neurodevelopmental disorders
Contact Information
Address: Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, 131 Dong An Rd, Shanghai China 200032
Email：shenminjie@fudan.edu.cn
Dr. Minjie Shen received his B.S. degree in medicine from Fudan University in 2011 and PhD degree in neuropharmacology from Fudan University in 2016 with 2 national scholarships (China). From 2016 to 2023, Dr. Minjie Shen conducted postdoctoral research at University of Wisconsin – Madison, he was a Research Associate from 2016 through 2022 and then was appointed as a Researcher I in 2022. He was awarded FRAXA postdoctoral fellowship by Fragile X Research Foundation (2019-2021). He joined the Institutes of Brain Science at Fudan University as a Principal Investigator in April 2023. His research focuses on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms regulating neuronal development and their implications in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, Fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome and schizophrenia etc. His recent work yielded several publications on Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Molecular Psychiatry, Nature Communications, Cell Reports, Cerebral Cortex, Translational Psychiatry and other peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Research Work
(1)Molecular mechanisms of psychiatric disorders related phenotypes.
(2)Molecular targeted therapy and translational research of neurodevelopmental disorders (Fragile X syndrome, etc.)
Developmental mechanisms that build the brain are regulated by precise gene-expression networks. Advances in human genetics have connected a large number of genes to diseases. Understanding their functions in the brain will provide important insight into disease mechanisms. Transcriptional and Post-transcriptional gene regulation are critical biological processes in neuronal physiology, and their disruptions in neuronal migration and maturation underly diverse neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) with life-long impacts on cognitive, psychiatric and social functions.
Our multidisciplinary approaches including genetics, genomics, pharmacology and behavioral analysis provide a potential framework for assessing NDD-associated genes with unclear functions in genetically defined populations of neurons. Our work will serve for clinical drug trials and eventually improve precise treatment of NDDs including autism disorders, Fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome and schizophrenia etc.
Selected Publications
1. Shen M, Sirois CL, Guo Y, Li M, Dong Q, Méndez-Albelo NM, Gao Y, Khullar S, Kissel L, Sandoval SO, Wolkoff NE, Huang SX, Xu Z, Bryan JE, Contractor AM, Korabelnikov T, Glass IA, Doherty D; Birth Defects Research Laboratory; Levine JE, Sousa AMM, Chang Q, Bhattacharyya A, Wang D, Werling DM, Zhao X* (2023). Species-specific FMRP regulation of RACK1 is critical for prenatal cortical development. Neuron. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.09.014
2. Shen M, Guo Y, Dong Q, Gao Y, Stockton ME, Li M, Kannan S, Korabelnikov T, Schoeller KA, Sirois CL, Zhou C, Le J, Wang D, Chang Q, Sun QQ, Zhao X* (2021). FXR1 regulation of parvalbumin interneurons in the prefrontal cortex is critical for schizophrenia-like behaviors. Molecular Psychiatry. 26 (11): 6845-6867.
3. Shen M, Wang F, Li M, Sah N, Stockton ME, Tidei JJ, Gao Y, Korabelnikov T, Kannan S, Vevea JD, Chapman ER, Bhattacharyya, A, van Praag H, Zhao X* (2019). Reduced mitochondrial fusion and Huntingtin levels contribute to impaired dendritic maturation and behavioral deficits in Fmr1-mutant mice. Nature Neuroscience. 22 (3): 386-400.
4. Niu B#, Liu P#, Shen M#, Liu C, Wang L, Wang F, Ma L* (2018). GRK5 Regulates Social Behavior Via Suppression of mTORC1 Signaling in Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Cerebral Cortex. 28 (2): 421-432.
5. Shen M, Jiang C, Liu P, Wang F, Ma L* (2016). Mesolimbic leptin signaling negatively regulates cocaine-conditioned reward. Translational Psychiatry. 6 (12): e972.
