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Xiaojun Tian

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School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering
Asst Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 9709
Biography: 

Dr. Xiaojun Tian received his Ph. D. degree in systems biology from Nanjing University in 2012 and spent five years as a postdoctoral fellow at Virginia Tech and the University of Pittsburgh. In 2017, he joined the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University as an Assistant Professor. His research interests are in employing quantitative experiments and mathematical modeling to understand fundamental problems in systems and synthetic biology. Over the past several years, his lab has made outstanding achievements with several publications at Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Communications, ACS synthetic biology, PLOS Computational Biology. Recently, he received the prestigious NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) award and NSF Career Award.

Education: 

Ph.D. Biophysics, Nanjing University, China 2012

Research Website URL: 
https://tianlaboratory.com/
Google Scholar URL: 
Google Scholar Profile
Research Interests: 

 

Systems Biology, Synthetic Biology, Nonlinear Dynamics, Gene Circuits, EMT

 

Research Group: 

Tian Lab is looking for talented and motivated graduate students. Visit the group webpage here.

Publications: 
  1. Zhang, R.r,+, Goetz, H+, Melendez-Alvarez, J.+, Li, J., Ding, T., Wang, X., and Tian, X.-J.*, Winner-Takes-All Resource Competition Redirects Cascading Cell Fate Transitions. Nature Communications, 12, 853, 2021.
  2. Zhang, R.r,+, Li, J.∞,+, Melendez-Alvarez, J., Chen, X., Sochor, P.#, Zhang, Q., Goetz, H, Ding, T., Wang, X.*, and Tian, X.-J.*, Topology-Dependent Interference of Synthetic Gene Circuit Function by Growth Feedback, Nature Chemical Biology, 16, 695-701, 2020.
  3. Melendez-Alvarez, J.+, He, C., Zhang, R.r,+, Kuang, Y., and Tian, X.-J.*, Emergent Damped Oscillation Induced by Nutrient-Modulating Growth Feedback. ACS Synthetic Biology, 10, 5, 1227-1236, 2021.
  4. Fu H., Gui Y., Liu S., Wang Y., Bastacky S., Qiao Y., Zhang R.r, Bonin C., Hargis G., Yu Y., Donald K., Biswas P., Zhou Y., Wang Y., Tian, X.-J.*, Liu Y.*, and Zhou D*. The Hepatocyte Growth Factor Pathway is a Key Determinant of the Fibrotic Kidney Local Microenvironment. iScience, 24(10), 103112, 2021.
  5. Liu S., Gui Y., Wang M., Zhang L., Xu T., Pan Y., Zhang K., Yu Y., Xiao L., Qiao Y., Bonin C., Hargis G., Huan T., Yu Y., Tao J., Zhang R.r, Kreutzer D., Zhou Y., Tian X.-J., Wang Y., Fu H., An X., Liu S., Zhou D. Serum integrative omics reveals the landscape of human diabetic kidney disease. Molecular Metabolism, 54, 101367, 2021.
  6. Barra D., Melendez-Alvarez, J., and Tian, X.-J.*, Control of tissue homeostasis, regeneration, and degeneration by coupled bi-directional bistable switches. PLOS Computational Biology, 17(11): e1009606. 2021.
  7. Goetz, H. +, Melendez-Alvarez, J. +, Chen, L., and Tian, X.-J.* A Plausible Accelerating Function of Partial EMT States in Cancer Metastasis, PLOS Computational Biology, 16(3):e1007682. 2020.
  8. Tian, X.-J.*,+, Zhou, D.+, Fu, H.+, Zhang, R.r, Wang, X., Huang, S., Liu, Y.*, and Xing, J.* Sequential Wnt Agonist then Antagonist Treatment Accelerates Tissue Repair and Minimizes Fibrosis, iScience, 23(5): 101047. 2020.
  9. Chen, Y.-J., Cheng, Y.-Y., Wang, W., Tian, X.-J., Lefever, D.E., Taft, D.A., Zhang, J., and Xing, J. Rapid, modular, and cost-effective generation of donor DNA constructs for CRISPR-based gene knock-in, Biology Methods and Protocols, 5(1): bpaa006. 2020.
  10. Menn, D.J., Sochor, P.#, Goetz, H., Tian, X.-J.*, and Wang X.*, Intracellular noise level determines ratio control strategy confined by speed-accuracy tradeoff, ACS Synthetic Biology, 8(6):1352-60, 2019.
  11. Xing, J.*, and Tian, X.-J.*, Investigating Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition with Integrated Computational and Experimental Approaches. Physical Biology, 16(3):031001, 2019.
  12. Singh, M.+, Tian, X.-J.+, Donnenberg, V.S., Watson, A.M., Zhang, J., Stabile, L.P., Watkins, S.C., Xing, J., and Sant, S. Targeting the Temporal Dynamics of Hypoxia-Induced Tumor-Secreted Factors Halts Tumor Migration. Cancer Research, 79(11):2962-77, 2019.
  13. Fu, H., Liu, S., Bastacky, S., Wang, X., Tian, X.-J., and Zhou, D*. Diabetic Kidney Diseases Revisited: A New Perspective for A New Era. Molecular Metabolism, 30, 250-263, 2019.
  14. Li, J.∞,+, Liu, D., Tian, X.-J., Koseki, S., Chen, S., Ye, X., and Ding, T*. Novel Antibacterial Modalities Against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Derived from Plants. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 59(sup1):S153-S161, 2018.
  15. Stone, A., Zhang, R.r, and Tian, X.-J.*, Coupling Shared and Tunable Negative Competition Against Winner-Take-All Resource Competition Via CRISPRi Moieties. 2021 American Control Conference (ACC), 1882-1882, 2021.
  16. Tian, X.-J.*, Manuela Vanegas, V., and Goetz, H., Modeling ncRNA-mediated circuits in cell fate decision. Computational Biology of non-coding RNA in Biomedicine, 411-426, 2019.
  17. Zhang J.+, Tian X.-J.+, Chen Y.-J., Wang W., Watkins S., and Xing J*. Pathway crosstalk enables cells to interpret TGF-β duration. npj Systems Biology and Applications, 4:18, 2018.
  18. Zhou, D., Fu, H., Xiao, L., Mo, H., Zhuo, H., Tian, X.-J, Lin, L., Xing, J., and Liu, Y. Fibroblast-Specific β-catenin Signaling Dictates the Outcome of AKI. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 29 (4), 1257-1271, 2018.
  19. Tian, X.-J.+, Zhang, H.+, Sannerud, J., and Xing, J., Achieving diverse and monoallelic olfactory receptor selection through dual-objective optimization design. PNAS, 113: E2889-98, 2016.
  20. Tian, X.-J.*, Zhang, H., Zhang, J., and Xing, J.* mRNA-miRNA Reciprocal Regulation Enabled Bistable Switch Directs Cell Fate Decision. FEBS Lett, 590: 3443-55, 2016.
  21. Zhang, J., Tian, X.-J., and Xing, J., Signal Transduction Pathways of EMT Induced by TGFβ, SHH, and WNT and Their Crosstalks. J Clin Med, 5: 41, 2016. (Citation= 258).
  22. Zhang, J.+, Tian, X.-J.+, Zhang, H., Teng, Y., Li, R., Bai, F., Elankumaran, S., and Xing, J., TGFβ-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition proceeds through stepwise activation of multiple feedback loops. Sci Signal, 7: ra91, 2014. (Citation= 335)
  23. Zhang, H., Tian, X.-J., Mukhopadhyay, A., Kim, K. S., and Xing, J., Statistical mechanics model for the dynamics of collective epigenetic histone modification. Phys Rev Lett, 112: 068101, 2014.
  24. Wang, P., Song, C., Zhang, H., Wu, Z., Tian, X.-J., and Xing, J., Epigenetic state network approach for describing cell phenotypic transitions. Interface Focus, 4: 20130068, 2014.
  25. Zhang, Q. H., Tian, X.-J., Liu, F., and Wang, W., A switch-like dynamic mechanism for the initiation of replicative senescence. FEBS Lett, 588: 4369-74, 2014.
  26. Tian, X.-J., Zhang, H., and Xing, J., Coupled reversible and irreversible bistable switches underlying TGFβ-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Biophys J, 105: 1079-89, 2013. (Citation= 191).
  27. Hu, Y., Ru, N., Xiao, H., Chaturbedi, A., Hoa, N. T., Tian, X.-J., Zhang, H., Ke, C., Yan, F., Nelson, J., Li, Z., Gramer, R., Yu, L., Siegel, E., Zhang, X., Jia, Z., Jadus, M. R., Limoli, C. L., Linskey, M. E., Xing, J., and Zhou, Y. H., Tumor-specific chromosome mis-segregation controls cancer plasticity by maintaining tumor heterogeneity. PLoS One, 8: e80898, 2013.
  28. Xing, J., Yu, J., Zhang, H., and Tian, X.-J., Computational modeling to elucidate mechanisms of epigenetic memory, in Epigenetic Technological Applications, Elsevier (2015).
  29. Tian, X.-J., Liu, F., Zhang, X. P., Li, J., and Wang, W., A two-step mechanism for cell fate decision by coordination of nuclear and mitochondrial p53 activities. PLoS One, 7: e38164, 2012.
  30. Tian, X.-J., Zhang, X. P., Liu, F., and Wang, W., Interlinking positive and negative feedback loops creates a tunable motif in gene regulatory networks. Phys Rev E, 80: 011926, 2009. (Citation= 110).
Research Activity: 

Xiaojun Tian, Multi-Scale Engineering of Heterogeneity in the Host-Aware Synthetic Gene Circuits. NIH (7/1/2021-6/30/2026).

Xiaojun Tian, URoL: Epigenetics 1: Epigenetics Control by Noncoding RNA. NSF (08/01/2019 - 07/31/2022).

Xiaojun Tian, CAREER: Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Circuit-Host Interactions. NSF (02/01/2022 - 01/31/2027).

Summer 2022
Course NumberCourse Title
BDE 792Research
Spring 2022
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 331Transport Phenomena for BME
BDE 792Research
BDE 795Continuing Registration
BDE 799Dissertation
Fall 2021
Course NumberCourse Title
AML 592Research
BME 598Special Topics
BDE 792Research
BDE 799Dissertation
Summer 2021
Course NumberCourse Title
BDE 792Research
Spring 2021
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 331Transport Phenomena for BME
BDE 792Research
BDE 799Dissertation
Fall 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 394Special Topics
BME 492Honors Directed Study
BME 493Honors Thesis
AML 592Research
BDE 792Research
BME 792Research
BDE 799Dissertation
Summer 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
BDE 792Research
Spring 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 394Special Topics
BME 492Honors Directed Study
BME 493Honors Thesis
BME 592Research
BME 599Thesis
BME 792Research
BDE 792Research
BDE 799Dissertation
Fall 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 331Transport Phenomena for BME
BME 394Special Topics
BME 492Honors Directed Study
BME 493Honors Thesis
AML 592Research
BME 598Special Topics
BDE 792Research
BME 792Research
BDE 799Dissertation
Spring 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 331Transport Phenomena for BME
BME 492Honors Directed Study
BME 493Honors Thesis
BME 592Research
BME 599Thesis
BME 792Research
BDE 792Research
BDE 799Dissertation
Fall 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
ASU 101-BMEThe ASU Experience
BME 492Honors Directed Study
AML 592Research
BME 592Research
BME 598Special Topics
BME 792Research
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
BME 394Special Topics
BME 493Honors Thesis
BME 598Special Topics
Work History: 

2014~2017      Postdoctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

2012~2014      Postdoctoral Associate, Virginia Tech, VA, USA

Service: 

Editor, Associate Editor for 2 peer-reviewed journals

  1. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering (MBE) (Associate Editor)
  2. eLife (Guest Editor) (IF= 8.14)

Member of Editorial Board: 5

  1. Frontiers in Microbiology (IF=5.640)
  2. PLOS ONE (IF=3.240)
  3. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering (MBE) (IF=1.285)
  4. Austin Journal of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics 
  5. Journal of Genetics and Molecular Biology

International/national conference sessions chaired: 2

  1. 2021 American Control Conference, invited session "Control in Synthetic Biology" (May 26-28, 2021)
  2. The 2nd International Conference on Biomedical and Biological Engineering (2017)

International/national conference program committee: 1

  1. The 3rd International Symposium on Mathematical and Computational Oncology (ISMCO'21), October 11-13, 2021

Peer Reviewer for 32 Journals

 

  1. Nature Computational Science
  2. Current Opinion in Microbiology
  3. Nucleic Acids Research
  4. PLOS Computational Biology
  5. BMC Systems Biology
  6. ACS Synthetic Biology
  7. Synthetic Biology
  8. mSystems
  9. npj Systems Biology
  10. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
  11. Biophysical Journal
  12. Scientific Reports
  13. Journal of the Royal Society Interface
  14. Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids
  15. Journal of Molecular Cell Biology
  16. PLoS One
  17. Cancers 
  18. Physica Scripta
  19. Processes
  20. Acta Biotheoretica
  21. Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
  22. BioMed Research International
  23. International Journal of Oncology
  24. Oncology Reports
  25. Oncology Letters
  26. FEBS Letters
  27. Molecular Medicine Reports 
  28. IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience
  29. Advanced Biosystems
  30. BMES
  31. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation
  32. frontiers in microbiology

 

Proposal Review Service for 5 Funding Agencies

  1. US Army Research Office, ad hoc Reviewer (2019)
  2. NIH MABS Study Section, ad hoc Reviewer (2020)
  3. NSF RoL, Panel Reviewer (2020)
  4. NSF GRFP Reviewer (2020,2021,2022)
  5. Reviewer for grant competition at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2020)
Expertise Areas: 
Biophysics
Cancer
Microbiology
Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
Synthetic Biology
Systems Biology