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Fanju Meng

Assistant Professor

University of North Texas

Department of Biological Sciences

Email: Fanju.Meng@unt.edu

Education

  • PhD, University of Rochester - School of Medicine and Dentistry, 2018
    Major: Genetics
    Dissertation: Regulation of Stem Cell Proliferatoin and Differentiation by Drosophila Sox21a and Sox100b in the Adult Intestine.
  • MS, University of Rochester - School of Medicine and Dentistry, 2015
    Major: Genetics
  • BS, Shandong University, 2012
    Major: Biology Science

Professional Positions

    Academic - Post-Secondary

  • Assistant Professor, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (2024 - Present).
  • Staff Scientist, University of Rochester. University of Rochester. (2023 - 2024).
  • Postdoc Associate, University of Rochester. University of Rochester. (2019 - 2023).

Professional Memberships

  • Society of Developmental Biology. (May 1, 2019 - Present).

Development Activities

  • Workshop, ATG Fall Faculty Grantsmanship Workshop, University of North Texas. Denton,Texas,United States of America. (December 10, 2024 - December 10, 2024).
  • Conference Attendance, International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine (ICIBM 2024), International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine. Houston,Texas,United States of America. (October 10, 2024 - October 12, 2024).
  • Other (Junior Faculty Meeting for College of Engineering and College of Science), Junior Faculty Meeting for College of Engineering and College of Science, University of North Texas. Denton,Texas,United States of America. (November 19, 2023).

Teaching

Teaching Experience

    University of North Texas

  • BIOL 3451 - Genetics, 1 course.
  • BIOL 4005 - Contemporary Topics in Biology, 1 course.
  • BIOL 4900 - Special Problems, 1 course.
  • BIOL 5005 - TOPICS IN BIOLOGY, 1 course.
  • BIOL 6940 - Individual Research, 2 courses.

Teaching at Other Institutions

  • University of Rochester, IND 484 Current Topics in Bioinformatics Research (guest lecture), Fall 2023.

Directed Student Learning

  • Dissertation Committee Member, Biological Sciences. (March 9, 2025).
  • Dissertation Committee Member, Biological Sciences. (February 10, 2025).
  • Supervised Research, Biological Sciences. (January 13, 2025).
  • Major Professor, "Epigenetic regulation of zebrafish embryogenesis," Biological Sciences. (January 6, 2025).
  • Dissertation Committee Member, Biological Sciences. (November 25, 2024).
  • Dissertation Committee Member, Biological Sciences. (November 6, 2024).
  • Postdoctoral Research Supervision, Biological Sciences. (September 21, 2024).
  • Supervised Research, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. (September 1, 2024).
  • Supervised Research, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. (September 1, 2024).
  • Supervised Research, Biological Sciences. (January 24, 2025 - June 20, 2025).
  • Supervised Research, Biological Sciences. (January 24, 2025 - May 10, 2025).
  • Supervised Research, Biological Sciences. (September 1, 2024 - December 13, 2024).

Awards and Honors

  • Steadman Family Award for Innovative Research, University of Rochester. (September 1, 2023).
  • Oral presentation award at Northeast SDB Regional meeting, Northeast Society of Developmental Biology Regional meeting. (April 5, 2022).
  • Goodman Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, University of Rochester. (January 1, 2018).

Research

Published Intellectual Contributions

    Book Chapter

  • Meng, F., Murphy, P.J. (2025). Canonical and Variant Nucleosome Reprogramming from Sperm to Blastula. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). Zygotic Genome Activation. 2923 https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-0716-4522-2_2

    • Editoral Comment

  • Meng, F., Murphy, P.J. (2021). Rolling uphill: in vivo reacquisition of pluripotency during cranial neural crest differentiation.. Other. 4 (1) 626.

    • Editorial Comment

  • Meng, F., Biteau, B. (2017). There and back again: amitosis to repopulate a stem cell pool.. Other. 4 82.

    • Journal Article

  • Meng, F., Schneider, P., Wei, X., Ariyasiri, K., Halpern, M.E., Murphy, P.J. (2025). TransTag enables simple and efficient transgene mapping in zebrafish via tagmentation. Cell Reports Methods. https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-methods/fulltext/S2667-2375(25)00126-2
  • Blanc, R.S., Shah, N., Hachmer, S., Salama, N.A., Meng, F., Mousaei, A., Puri, G., Hwang, J.H., Wacker, E.E., Young, B.A., Aguilar, C.A., Chakkalakal, J.V., Onukwufor, J.O., Murphy, P.J., Calvi, L.M., Dilworth, F.J., Dirksen, R. (2025). Epigenetic erosion of H4K20me1 induced by inflammation drives aged stem cell ferroptosis. Nature Aging. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-025-00902-5
  • Halblander, F.N., Meng, F., Murphy, P.J. (2024). Anp32e protects against accumulation of H2A.Z at Sox motif containing promoters during zebrafish gastrulation. Developmental Biology. 507 34-43. Elsevier BV. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2023.12.010
  • Meng, F., Murphy, K.E., Makowski, C.E., Delatte, B., Murphy, P.J. (2023). Competition for H2A.Z underlies the developmental impacts of repetitive element de-repression. Development. 150 (21) The Company of Biologists. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.202338
  • Shi, H., Chen, S., Meng, F., Ossip, D.J., Yan, C., Li, D. (2023). Epigenome-wide DNA methylation profiling in comparison between pathological and physiological hypertrophy of human cardiomyocytes. Other. 14 Frontiers Media SA. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1264382
  • Akdogan-Ozdilek, B., Duval, K.L., Meng, F., Murphy, P.J., Goll, M.G. (2021). Identification of chromatin states during zebrafish gastrulation using CUT&RUN and CUT&Tag.. Other. 251 (4) 729-742. https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/dvdy.430
  • Murphy, K.E., Meng, F., Makowski, C.E., Murphy, P.J. (2020). Genome-wide chromatin accessibility is restricted by ANP32E.. Nature Communications. 11 (1) 5063.
  • Meng, F., Rojas Villa, S.E., Biteau, B. (2020). Sox100B Regulates Progenitor-Specific Gene Expression and Cell Differentiation in the Adult Drosophila Intestine.. Other. 14 (2) 226-240.
  • Rojas Villa, S.E., Meng, F., Biteau, B. (2019). zfh2 controls progenitor cell activation and differentiation in the adult Drosophila intestinal absorptive lineage.. Other. 15 (12) e1008553.
  • Meng, F., Biteau, B. (2015). A Sox Transcription Factor Is a Critical Regulator of Adult Stem Cell Proliferation in the Drosophila Intestine.. Other. 13 (5) 906-14.

    • Pre-print

  • Das, D., Khor, E., Jiang, F., He, J., Kawakami, Y., Wainwright, L., Hollinger, J., Geiger, J., Liu, H., Meng, F., Porter Jr, G.A., Jin, Z., Murphy, P., Yao, P. (2024). Loss-of-function of RNA-binding protein PRRC2B causes translational defects and congenital cardiovascular malformation. medRxiv. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.09.26.24313895v1
  • Blanc, R.S., Shah, N., Salama, N.A., Meng, F., Mousaei, A., Yang, B.A., Aguilar, C.A., Chakkalakal, J.V., Onukwufor, J.O., Murphy, P.J., Calvi, L., Dirksen, R. (2024). Epigenetic erosion of H4K20me1 induced by inflammation drives aged stem cell ferroptosis.. Research Square Platform LLC. http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3937628/v2

Presentations Given

    Invited Talk

  • Meng, F. (Presenter), BioFrontiers Seminar, Competition and Co-option between Genes and Repetitive Elements, University of North Texas, Department of Biological Sciences, LSC A-117, United States of America. (2024 - 2024).
  • Meng, F. (Presenter), International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine (ICIBM 2024), Genomic Profiling of the Histone Variant H2A.Z during Embryonic Development, BioScience Research Collaborative-Rice University, United States of America. (2024 - 2024).
  • Meng, F. (Presenter), 2024 Northeast SDB Regional Meeting, Regulatory role of repetitive elements on transcriptional programs during early embryogenesis, Society of Developmental Biology, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America. (2024 - 2024).
  • Meng, F. (Presenter), 6th Central New York Zebrafish Meeting, Tagmentation-based Mapping of Tol2 Transgene Insertion Sites in Zebrafish, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, United States of America. (2024).
  • Meng, F. (Presenter), Central NY Zebrafish meeting, Competition for H2A.Z sensitizes developing embryos to innate immune stimulation, Syracuse University, United States of America. (2023).
  • Meng, F. (Presenter), Northeast Society of Developmental Biology Regional Meeting, Temporal dynamics of H2A.Z genomic patterning facilitate developmental differentiation, Society of Developmental Biology, United States of America. (2022 - 2022).

    • Oral Presentation

  • Meng, F. (Presenter), 44th Annual International Asilomar Chromatin, Chromosomes and Epigenetics Conference, Temporal H2A.Z dynamics facilitate enhancer activation during embryonic developmental transitions, United States of America. (2022 - 2022).

    • Poster

  • Meng, F. (Presenter), THE 39TH SUMMER SYMPOSIUM IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, Transcriptional control of repetitive elements orchestrates zygotic genome activation and developmental timing, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, United States of America. (2023 - 2023).
  • Meng, F. (Presenter), Tri-Institutional Symposium on Reproductive Sciences 2023, Competition for H2A.Z sensitizes developing embryos to innate immune stimulation, Cornell NY, United States of America. (2023).

Service

University Service

  • Committee Member, Tenure-track Faculty Search Committee for Plant Science/Plant Biology. (September 25, 2024 - March 3, 2025).

Professional Service

  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Differentiation. (January 7, 2025).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Gene. (June 16, 2024).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Computational and Structural Biotechnology. (May 8, 2024).
  • Judge, University of Rochester Pathology Day. (April 29, 2024).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, biomedinformatics. (February 28, 2024).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Cells and Development. (March 16, 2023).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Toxics. (February 2023).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Cells. (October 2022).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Epigenomes. (September 2022).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Communications Biology. (2019).