Prof. Yun-Li Xie

Principal Investigator

Research Directions
Neural stem cells and neurodevelopmental disorders 
Contact  Information
Address: Room B-4103, Research Building No.2-B,Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, 131 Dongan Road, Shanghai 200032, China
Tel: 86-021-54237317  Email: yunli.xie@fudan.edu.cn

Dr. Yunli Xie is a principal investigator in the Institutes of Brain Science (IOBS), Fudan University. Yunli obtained his PhD in 2008 in neuroscience at Tuebingen University, Germany. Then he joined the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) in Vienna, Austria as a postdoctoral researcher, before joining the IOBS in 2014.

Research Direction
Neural stem cells and neurodevelopmental disorders

Understanding how neural stem cells maintain their proliferative capacity and how their progenies differentiate into distinct lineages is of fundamental importance, not only for understanding brain development, but also for understanding the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders, the initiation of brain tumors, and the therapeutic potential of brain disorders. We aim to understand how neural stem cells balance between symmetric and asymmetric divisions, and how misregulation of the mechanisms that control neural stem cell divisions lead to abnormal brain development and neurological disorders.

Selected Publications

1. Xu J, Deng X, Gu A, Cai Y, Huang Y, Zhang W, Wen W*, Xie Y* (2023). Ccdc85c-Par3 condensates couple cell polarity with Notch to control neural progenitor proliferation. Cell Reports, 42(7):112677

2. Zhang Y, Cai Z, Hu G, Hu S, Wang Y, Li N, Chen S, Liu Q, Zeng L, Tang T, Zhang Y, Xiao L, Gu Y and Xie Y* (2021). Transcription factor 4 controls positioning of cortical projection neurons through regulation of cell adhesion. Molecular Psychiatry, 26(11):6562-6577

3. Tang T, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Cai Z, Lu Z, Li L, Huang R, Hagelkruys A, Matthias P, Zhang H, Seiser C, Xie Y*(2019). HDAC1 and HDAC2 regulate intermediate progenitor positioning to safeguard neocortical development. Neuron, 101(6):1117-1133.e5 (Recommended by Faculty 1000)

4. Xie Y, Juschke C, Esk C, Hirotsune S, Knoblich JA* (2013). The phosphatase PP4c controls spindle orientation to maintain proliferative symmetric divisions in the developing neocortex. Neuron, 79: 254-265 (Cover story and featured with preview in Neuron 79:211-213)

5. Xie Y, Vessey JP, Konecna A, Dahm R, Macchi P*, Kiebler MA* (2007) . The dendritic spine-associated GTP-binding protein Septin 7 is critical for dendrite branching and dendritic spine morphology. Curr Biol, 17: 1746-1751 (Featured in: Nat. Rev. Neurosci, 8: 910-911; Curr. Biol. R961-R963)