Renjie Chai

Distinguished Professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program of the Ministry of Education. Chief Scientist of the National Key Research and Development Program of China. Talent of the China’s Young Thousand Talents program and the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars. Currently serving as the President of the Auditory Branch of the Chinese Biophysical Society; Deputy Chairperson and President-elect of the Special Committee on Stem Cell Physiology of the Chinese Physiological Society; Vice President of the Stem Cell Engineering Technology Branch of the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering; Chairperson of the Special Committee on Basic Research of Audiology Development Foundation of China. Has been long-term committed to the research on the regeneration and protection of neurons and inner ear hair cells.

Long-term commitment to the regeneration and protection of inner ear hair cells and neurons, as well as the transcriptional regulation mechanisms of neural stem cells and inner ear stem cells. The main research contents include: 1. A systematic study of the transcriptional regulation mechanisms of various signaling pathways on the proliferation and differentiation of inner ear stem cells and neural stem cells; 2. Combining the coordinated regulation of multiple genes, biological materials, and physical regulation factors such as electrical stimulation and magnetic stimulation to effectively promote the regeneration of neurons and hair cells and the partial reconstruction of auditory function; 3. Effectively protecting the damage of hair cells and hearing loss caused by noise and drugs by regulating the immune system, autophagy, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress.

2000-2004 B.S. in Bioscience, Univ. of Sci. and Tech. of China

2004-2009 Ph.D. in Biomedical Study, Baylor University Medical Center

2009-2013 Postdoctoral Fellow in Stanford University School of Medicine

2023.08- Current: Professor, School of Life Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology

2013.08- Current: Professor, Institute of Life Sciences, Southeast University

2009.05 – 2013.08: Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Alan Cheng’s laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, California, U.S.

2004-2009: Ph.D. student, Research Assistant, Laboratory of Jiahuan DING, M.D. Ph.D. & Paul Grayburn, M.D., Institute of Metabolic Disease, Baylor University Medical Center

2002-2004: Research Assistant, Laboratory of Yunyu SHI, Ph.D., School of Life Sciences, USTC

Successively serving as the project or subject leader, he has presided over the key special project on stem cell and transformation research of the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Youth 973 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Class A Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on "Organ Reconstruction and Manufacturing", one key project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, one major integrated project, two general projects, a social development project of the Jiangsu Provincial Key R&D Program, a key R&D project of the Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Program, a key project of the Science and Technology Activities for Overseas Returnees of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, a project for overseas students of the Ministry of Education, a Faculty Research Award worth 5 million yuan from the German company Boehringer Ingelheim, a top 20 global pharmaceutical enterprise, a Faculty Research Award worth 700,000 yuan from the Swiss company Novartis, and a total of 15 projects.

The related work has been published in internationally influential academic journals such as Cell, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, Autophagy, Advanced Materials, Advanced Science, Advanced Functional Materials, Biomaterials, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Redox Biology, and Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, Development, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, Cell Death & Disease. In the past five years, 130 SCI papers have been published as the corresponding author (with a total impact factor of 1,246.38 and an average impact factor of 9.33). Among them, 4 papers have been listed as recommended articles by Faculty 1000, 1 paper has been selected as the best annual paper in the main issue of Cell, 13 papers have been selected as ESI highly cited papers, and 2 papers have been selected as hot papers. The total number of citations is more than 6,000, and the h-index is 48.

As the chief editor, he has published 2 Chinese textbooks for the otolaryngology discipline and 1 English monograph. As an editor, he has participated in compiling the fourth edition of the neuroscience textbook edited by Academician Han Jisheng and was responsible for writing Chapter 4 of Section VI on the auditory system.

The research achievements have also won the Third National Innovation and Dedication Award, the First Prize of the Youth Science Award of the Huo Yingdong Education Foundation of the Ministry of Education (as the first contributor), the Chinese Youth Science and Technology Award (as the first contributor), the Second Prize of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award (as the first contributor), the Jiangsu Youth Science and Technology Award (as the first contributor), the Shulan Medical Youth Award (as the first contributor), the First Prize of the Natural Science Award of the Science and Technology Award of Higher Education Institutions (as the third contributor), the First Prize of the Jiangsu Medical Science and Technology Award (as the second contributor), and the Second Prize of the Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Award (as the second contributor), and the First Prize of the Shanghai Technical Invention Award (as the ninth contributor). He has also been named as one of the Top Ten Young Scientists of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology in 2022, one of the Top Ten Young Science and Technology Stars of Jiangsu Province in 2020, and has been nominated for the Jiangsu May 4th Youth Medal.

He has applied for 23 national invention patents, and 5 national invention patents and 1 utility model patent have been authorized. In addition, he has made 8 keynote speeches at international conferences, published 21 papers at international conferences. As the conference chair, he has participated in organizing the 1st, 3rd and 4th China Auditory Science Conferences. As the chair of a sub-forum, he has presided over the sub-forum on auditory abnormalities and balance disorders at the 19th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Otorhinolaryngology, presided over the sub-forums on auditory research at the 15th and 16th Annual Meetings of the Chinese Biophysical Society, and presided over the sub-forums on auditory research at the 12th and 13th Annual Meetings of the Chinese Neuroscience Society.