Dr. Zi studied Biology at Tsinghua University in Beijing before performing his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Edda Klipp at Humboldt University of Berlin, where he worked on kinetic modeling of cell signaling networks. He completed his PhD in 2008 and spent another year in Edda Klipp’s group. Then, he started an independent postdoc position as a project leader at BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies at University of Freiburg in 2009. In 2014, Dr. Zi established an independent research group at Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics. In 2022, he joined the faculty at SIAT.
The Zi laboratory is interested in understanding how cell systems dynamics control cellular responses to cytokines and drugs at a systems level. His lab uses systems and synthetic biology approaches to study the molecular mechanisms by which cell systems dynamics regulate cell fate decisions. One part of his past work has focused on mathematical modeling and quantitative analysis of biological networks. He has developed several systems biology tools for parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, network inference and live cell imaging analysis. On the other hand, his lab applied these computational approaches with the combination of quantitative experiments to investigate heterogeneous cell systems dynamics in different types of cells and in single cells. Currently, his group mainly focuses on the TGF-β signaling and starts to explore how multiple signaling pathways collectively determine cellular outcomes in response to extrinsic and intrinsic signals in different cellular contexts.

Email: zk.zi@siat.ac.cn
Link: zilab.org