Weimin Zhang

Weimin Zhang, PhD

Institute for Systems Genetics

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

Keywords
Synthetic genomes, Disease modeling in mouse, COVID-19, Cancer
Summary

My research focuses on utilizing synthetic genome technologies to develop advanced human disease models in mice, aimed at improving our understanding of disease mechanisms and accelerating therapeutic discovery. I have pioneered a novel genome rewriting method in mouse embryonic stem cells, known as mSwAP-In. This technique enables efficient, scarless, and biallelic insertion of large DNA fragments, up to 200 kilobases, into any mammalian genomic locus. A key application of mSwAP-In is gene humanization, which allows for the physiological expression of human genes and the retention of human-specific alternative splicing in mice. This approach produces Next-Gen humanized mouse models that more accurately mimic human disease, providing a powerful tool for research and therapeutic development.

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Positions

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Graduate Education

PhD from Tsinghua University

Postdoctoral Training

Institute for Systems Genetics, Jef Boeke

Multi-omics analysis of a pig-to-human decedent kidney xenotransplant

Schmauch, Eloi; Piening, Brian D; Dowdell, Alexa K; Mohebnasab, Maedeh; Williams, Simon H; Stukalov, Alexey; Robinson, Fred L; Bombardi, Robin; Jaffe, Ian; Khalil, Karen; Kim, Jacqueline; Aljabban, Imad; Eitan, Tal; O'Brien, Darragh P; Rophina, Mercy; Wang, Chan; Bartlett, Alexandra Q; Zanoni, Francesca; Albay, Jon; Andrijevic, David; Maden, Berk; Mauduit, Vincent; Vikman, Susanna; Argibay, Diana; Zayas, Zasha; Wu, Leah; Moi, Kiana; Lau, Billy; Zhang, Weimin; Gragert, Loren; Weldon, Elaina; Gao, Hui; Hamilton, Lauren; Kagermazova, Larisa; Camellato, Brendan R; Gandla, Divya; Bhatt, Riyana; Gao, Sarah; Al-Ali, Rudaynah A; Habara, Alawi H; Chang, Andrew; Ferdosi, Shadi; Chen, Han M; Motter, Jennifer D; Chacon, Fiorella A; Thomas, Scott C; Saxena, Deepak; Fairchild, Robert L; Loupy, Alexandre; Heguy, Adriana; Crawford, Ali; Batzoglou, Serafim; Snyder, Michael P; Siddiqui, Asim; Holmes, Michael V; Chong, Anita S; Kaikkonen, Minna U; Linna-Kuosmanen, Suvi; Ayares, David; Lorber, Marc; Nellore, Anoma; Skolnik, Edward Y; Mattoo, Aprajita; Tatapudi, Vasishta S; Taft, Ryan; Mangiola, Massimo; Guo, Qian; Herati, Ramin S; Stern, Jeffrey; Griesemer, Adam; Kellis, Manolis; Boeke, Jef D; Montgomery, Robert A; Keating, Brendan J

Nature. 2025 Nov 13;

Physiology and immunology of pig-to-human decedent kidney xenotransplant

Montgomery, Robert A; Stern, Jeffrey M; Fathi, Farshid; Suek, Nathan; Kim, Jacqueline I; Khalil, Karen; Vermette, Benjamin; Tatapudi, Vasishta S; Mattoo, Aprajita; Skolnik, Edward Y; Jaffe, Ian S; Aljabban, Imad; Eitan, Tal; Bisen, Shivani; Weldon, Elaina P; Goutaudier, Valentin; Morgand, Erwan; Mezine, Fariza; Giarraputo, Alessia; Boudhabhay, Idris; Bruneval, Patrick; Sannier, Aurelie; Breen, Kevin; Saad, Yasmeen S; Muntnich, Constanza Bay; Williams, Simon H; Zhang, Weimin; Kagermazova, Larisa; Schmauch, Eloi; Goparaju, Chandra; Dieter, Rebecca; Lawson, Nikki; Dandro, Amy; Fazio-Kroll, Ana Laura; Burdorf, Lars; Ayares, David; Lorber, Marc; Segev, Dorry; Ali, Nicole; Goldfarb, David S; Costa, Victoria; Hilbert, Timothy; Mehta, Sapna A; Herati, Ramin S; Pass, Harvey I; Wu, Ming; Boeke, Jef D; Keating, Brendan; Mangiola, Massimo; Sommer, Philip M; Loupy, Alexandre; Griesemer, Adam; Sykes, Megan

Nature. 2025 Nov 13;

Genome writing to dissect consequences of SVA retrotransposon disease X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonism

Zhang, Weimin; Zhao, Yu; Prakash, Priya; Appleby, Heather L; Barriball, Kelly; Capponi, Simona; Jiang, Qingwen; Wudzinska, Aleksandra M; Vaine, Christine A; Ellis, Gwen; Rahman, Neha; Markovic, Stefan; Mishkit, Orin; Limberg, Kerry C; Maurano, Matthew T; Wadghiri, Youssef Z; Kim, Sang Yong; Timmers, H T Marc; Bragg, D Cristopher; Liddelow, Shane A; Brosh, Ran; Boeke, Jef D

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2025 Oct 08;

Cellular dynamics in pig-to-human kidney xenotransplantation

Pan, Wanqing; Zhang, Weimin; Zheng, Binghan; Camellato, Brendan R; Stern, Jeffrey; Lin, Ziyan; Khodadadi-Jamayran, Alireza; Kim, Jacqueline; Sommer, Philip; Khalil, Karen; Weldon, Elaina; Bai, Jiangshan; Zhu, Yinan; Meyn, Peter; Heguy, Adriana; Mangiola, Massimo; Griesemer, Adam; Keating, Brendan J; Montgomery, Robert A; Xia, Bo; Boeke, Jef D

Med (New York, N.Y.). 2024 Aug 09; 5(8):1016-1029.e4

Genomic context sensitizes regulatory elements to genetic disruption

Ordoñez, Raquel; Zhang, Weimin; Ellis, Gwen; Zhu, Yinan; Ashe, Hannah J; Ribeiro-Dos-Santos, André M; Brosh, Ran; Huang, Emily; Hogan, Megan S; Boeke, Jef D; Maurano, Matthew T

Molecular cell. 2024 May 16; 84(10):1842-1854.e7

Integrative multi-omics profiling in human decedents receiving pig heart xenografts

Schmauch, Eloi; Piening, Brian; Mohebnasab, Maedeh; Xia, Bo; Zhu, Chenchen; Stern, Jeffrey; Zhang, Weimin; Dowdell, Alexa K; Kim, Jacqueline I; Andrijevic, David; Khalil, Karen; Jaffe, Ian S; Loza, Bao-Li; Gragert, Loren; Camellato, Brendan R; Oliveira, Michelli F; O'Brien, Darragh P; Chen, Han M; Weldon, Elaina; Gao, Hui; Gandla, Divya; Chang, Andrew; Bhatt, Riyana; Gao, Sarah; Lin, Xiangping; Reddy, Kriyana P; Kagermazova, Larisa; Habara, Alawi H; Widawsky, Sophie; Liang, Feng-Xia; Sall, Joseph; Loupy, Alexandre; Heguy, Adriana; Taylor, Sarah E B; Zhu, Yinan; Michael, Basil; Jiang, Lihua; Jian, Ruiqi; Chong, Anita S; Fairchild, Robert L; Linna-Kuosmanen, Suvi; Kaikkonen, Minna U; Tatapudi, Vasishta; Lorber, Marc; Ayares, David; Mangiola, Massimo; Narula, Navneet; Moazami, Nader; Pass, Harvey; Herati, Ramin S; Griesemer, Adam; Kellis, Manolis; Snyder, Michael P; Montgomery, Robert A; Boeke, Jef D; Keating, Brendan J

Nature medicine. 2024 May; 30(5):1448-1460

On the genetic basis of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes

Xia, Bo; Zhang, Weimin; Zhao, Guisheng; Zhang, Xinru; Bai, Jiangshan; Brosh, Ran; Wudzinska, Aleksandra; Huang, Emily; Ashe, Hannah; Ellis, Gwen; Pour, Maayan; Zhao, Yu; Coelho, Camila; Zhu, Yinan; Miller, Alexander; Dasen, Jeremy S; Maurano, Matthew T; Kim, Sang Y; Boeke, Jef D; Yanai, Itai

Nature. 2024 Feb; 626(8001):1042-1048

Large-scale genomic rearrangements boost SCRaMbLE in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cheng, Li; Zhao, Shijun; Li, Tianyi; Hou, Sha; Luo, Zhouqing; Xu, Jinsheng; Yu, Wenfei; Jiang, Shuangying; Monti, Marco; Schindler, Daniel; Zhang, Weimin; Hou, Chunhui; Ma, Yingxin; Cai, Yizhi; Boeke, Jef D; Dai, Junbiao

Nature communications. 2024 Jan 26; 15(1):770

See All Publications (28)

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