Biography

Dr. Wenyan Ren received her Ph.D. degree in Cell Biology from Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015. She joined CAM-SU Genomic Resource Center at Soochow University in 2016 and currently serves as an associate professor. In 2017, she was a visiting scholar at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge.

She has undertaken several research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science and Technology Project of Suzhou, Interdisciplinary Basic Frontier Innovation Program of Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Drug Discovery and Translational Research for Brain Diseases.

Research Interests

My research has been focused on the mechanistic understanding of tissue homeostasis maintenance and epigenetic regulation, with particular emphasis on the biological functions of chromatin remodeling complexes, including the BAF, SRCAP, and COMPASS families. We adopted an integrated “dry–wet” biology approach, systematically combining population-based genetic analyses (GWAS), multi-omics data integration, and cross-species functional validation. At the experimental level, we utilized a diverse array of systems, including molecular interaction assays, cell-based models, animal models, and organoid cultures, to dissect the epigenetic molecular mechanisms underlying early cell fate determination and innate immune regulation—with relevance to disease models such as tumor immunology and autoimmune disorders.

Selected Publications

1. Elucidating Tumorigenesis Mechanisms and Assessing Immunotherapeutic Efficacy in Patient-Derived Medulloblastoma Organoid Models. Zhang J, Wang M, Rui H, Wang C, Luo G, Niu Z, Shi W, Zeng J, Xue P, Shi X, Yan B, Ren W*, Li H*, Lin X*. Int J Biol Sci. 2026 Apr 23;22(9):4878-4899.

2. Wu LF*,#, Wang L#, Zhuang Y#, Luo Y#, Zhu QY, Maimaitizunong M, Wang YF, Cheng ZJ, Li YL, Sheng XR, Li MJ, Luo QA, Jiang XY, Lei SF, Lin XH, Zhong YB*, Wenyan Ren*. Integrative analysis reveals synergistic regulation of Sp7 by BRD9 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling during osteogenic differentiation. Commun Biol. 2025 Dec 1;9(1):23.

3. Luo YF, Cheng ZJ, Wang YF, Jiang XY, Lei SF, Deng FY, Ren WY*, Wu LF*. Unraveling the relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and frailty: evidence from longitudinal cohort study and genetic analysis. BMC Geriatr. 2024 Mar 4;24(1):222.

4. Wang YF, Luo YF, Mhalgi A, Ren WY*, Wu LF*. Association of Self-Reported Sleep Characteristics and Hip Fracture: Observational and Mendelian Randomization Studies. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Mar 23;11(7):926.

5. Du J#, Ren W#, Yao F#, Wang H, Zhang K, Luo M, Shang Y, O'Connell D, Bei Z, Wang H, Xiong R, Yang Y*. YY1 cooperates with TFEB to regulate autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis in melanoma. Mol Carcinog. 2019 Nov;58(11):2149-2160

6. Chen L#, Ye Y#, Dai H#, Zhang H, Zhang X, Wu Q, Zhu Z, Spalinskas R, Ren W*, Zhang W*. User-Friendly Genetic Conditional Knockout Strategies by CRISPR/Cas9. Stem Cells Int. 2018 Jun 14;2018:9576959.

7. Ren W#, Zhang Y#, Li M, Wu L, Wang G, Baeg G, You J, Li Z*, Lin X*. Windpipe Controls Drosophila Intestinal Homeostasis by Regulating JAK/STAT Pathway via Promoting Receptor Endocytosis and Lysosomal Degradation. PLoS Genet. 2015 11(4): e1005180.

8. Yuan B#, Shi K#, Zha J#, Cai Y, Gu Y, Huang K, Yue W, Zhai Q, Ding N, Ren W, He W, Xu Y*, Wang T*. Nuclear receptor modulators inhibit osteosarcoma cell proliferation and tumour growth by regulating the mTOR signaling pathway. Cell Death Dis. 2023 Jan 21;14(1):51.

9. Wu LF, Zhang Q, Mo XB, Lin J, Wu YL, Lu X, He P, Wu J, Guo YF, Wang MJ, Ren WY, Deng HW, Lei SF*, Deng FY*. Identification of novel rheumatoid arthritis-associated MiRNA-204-5p from plasma exosomes. Exp Mol Med. 2022 Mar;54(3):334-345.

10. Luo M#, Wu L#, Zhang K#, Wang H, Zhang T, Gutierrez L, O'Connell D, Zhang P, Li Y, Gao T, Ren W, Yang Y*. miR-137 regulates ferroptosis by targeting glutamine transporter SLC1A5 in melanoma. Cell Death Differ. 2018 Aug;25(8):1457-1472.