Xiufei Chen

Research Interests

DNA 5-methylcytosine (5mC), DNA 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications, as the key epigenetic markers, play crucial roles in cellular biological processes and human cancer development. While oxygen is of fundamental importance for most living organisms, dysregulation of the oxygen sensing pathway and hypoxia signalling contribute to many human diseases including cancer. My work mainly focuses on the epigenetic changes in DNA and RNA in response to hypoxia during tumour development. Our lab recently developed a novel bisulphite-free technology, TET-Assisted Pyridine borane Sequencing (TAPS), for direct detection of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) at single loci resolution without affecting unmodified cytosine. My current research applies this cutting-edge technology to study the changes in DNA modification during hypoxia in cancers, along with RNA m6A modification changes, to illuminate their exact roles in hypoxia-related tumour development.

Background

2008.09-2012.06: Huazhong University of Science and Technology, B.S.

2012.09-2017.06: Fudan University, Ph.D.

2017.09-2019.10: Fudan University, Postdoc