Career History & Research Interests

Guojun Sheng obtained his Ph.D. in developmental genetics from the Rockefeller University in 1997, under the supervision of Professor Claude Desplan. He received his postdoctoral training in molecular embryology in the laboratory of Professor Claudio Stern at Columbia University and University College London. Before joining the IRCMS in late 2015, Dr. Sheng had directed the Laboratory for Early Embryogenesis at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in Kobe, Japan, first as a Team Leader (2004-2014) and then as a Senior Investigator (2014-2015). Dr. Sheng is currently a professor at the IRCMS and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Kumamoto University. His laboratory uses the avian animal model and studies cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating cell fate changes during early embryonic development. His research focuses on the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process during mesoderm formation and the hematopoietic, vascular and smooth muscle cell differentiation during early cardiovascular/hematopoietic system formation. Dr. Sheng is also interested in understanding the link between developmental and cancer EMTs and that between normal and abnormal states of mesoderm lineage specification in development and diseases.