The Sun Lab mainly focuses on 1) using zebrafish as a model to study germ cell development and early embryonic development and 2) using common carp and grass carp as models to develop innovative directional breeding approaches, such as genome editing, surrogate reproduction, and synthetic biology, in aquaculture fishes.   

Education 

09/1997-10/2022: Ph.D. in Genetics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (Mentor: Prof. Zuoyan Zhu) 

09/1993-07/1997: B.Sc. in Genetics, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, China   

Postdoctoral Training 

09/2006-03/2008:  FFCSA (La Fondation franco-chinoise pour la science et ses applications) post-doctoral research associate, IGBMC (Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology), INSERM, France (Mentor: Profs. Bernard Thisse and Christine Thisse) 

02/2005-08/2006:  Post-doctoral research associate, IGBMC, INSERM France (Mentor: Profs. Bernard Thisse and Christine Thisse)   

Research Experience 

03/2019-present: Director, National Aquatic Biological Resource Center, China 

10/2012-present: Director, China Zebrafish Resource Center, China 

12/2010-present: Professor, Institute of hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 

01/2005-11/2010: Associate Professor, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 

11/2009-12/2009: Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia, US 

07/2002-12/2004: Assistant Professor, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China   

Professional Membership 

Board of Director, East Asia Regional Representative, International Zebrafish Society 

Associate President and Secretary General of Board of Directors, China Zebrafish Society 

Board of Director, Branch of Biotechnology and Genetic Breeding in Aquaculture, China Society of Fisheries 

Editor, Water Biology and Security 

Review Editor, Frontiers in Genetics 

Guest Editor, Science Bulletin 

Research Articles: 

1)      Zhang, F., Hao, Y., Li, X., Li, Y., Ye, D., Zhang, R., Wang, X., He, M., Wang, H., Zhu, Z., and Sun, Y.* (2022). Surrogate production of genome-edited sperm from a different subfamily by spermatogonial stem cell transplantation. Sci China Life Sci 65, 969-987.  

2)      Wang, Y., Ye, D., Zhang, F., Zhang, R., Zhu, J., Wang, H., He, M., and Sun, Y.* (2022). Cyp11a2 Is Essential for Oocyte Development and Spermatogonial Stem Cell Differentiation in Zebrafish. Endocrinology 163. bqab258. 

3)      He, M., Zhang, R., Jiao, S., Zhang, F., Ye, D., Wang, H., and Sun, Y.* (2020). Nanog safeguards early embryogenesis against global activation of maternal β-catenin activity by interfering with TCF factors. PLOS Biology 18, e3000561.  

4)      Zhang, Q.#, Ye, D.#, Wang, H., Wang, Y., Hu, W., and Sun, Y.* (2020). Zebrafish cyp11c1 Knockout Reveals the Roles of 11-ketotestosterone and Cortisol in Sexual Development and Reproduction. Endocrinology 161, bqaa048 (top 10% highly cited paper) 

5)      Zhang, F., Li, X., He, M., Ye, D., Xiong, F., Amin, G., Zhu, Z., and Sun, Y.* (2020). Efficient generation of zebrafish maternal-zygotic mutants through transplantation of ectopically induced and Cas9/gRNA targeted primordial germ cells. J Genet Genomics 47, 37-47. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000)  

6)      Sun, Y.*, Zhang, B., Luo, L., Shi, D.L., Wang, H., Cui, Z., Huang, H., Cao, Y., Shu, X., Zhang, W., et al. (2020). Systematic genome editing of the genes on zebrafish Chromosome 1 by CRISPR/Cas9. Genome Research 30, 118–126.  

7)      Li, X., Zhang, F., Wu, N., Ye, D., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Sun, Y.*, and Zhang, Y.A.* (2020). A critical role of foxp3a-positive regulatory T cells in maintaining immune homeostasis in zebrafish testis development. J Genet Genomics 47, 547-561. (Cover story) 

8)     Ye, D.#, Wang, X.#, Wei, C., He, M., Wang, H., Wang, Y., Zhu, Z., and Sun, Y.* (2019). Marcksb plays a key role in the secretory pathway of zebrafish Bmp2b. PLOS Genetics 15, e1008306. 

9)     Ye, D., Zhu, L., Zhang, Q., Xiong, F., Wang, H., Wang, X., He, M., Zhu, Z., and Sun, Y.* (2019). Abundance of Early Embryonic Primordial Germ Cells Promotes Zebrafish Female Differentiation as Revealed by Lifetime Labeling of Germline. Mar Biotechnol (NY) 21, 217-228. (Springer Nature 2019 Highlight paper) 

10)    Lu, F.I.#, Sun, Y.H.#, Wei, C.Y., Thisse, C., and Thisse, B*. (2014). Tissue-specific derepression of TCF/LEF controls the activity of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. Nature Communications 5, 5368. (# co-first author) 

11)    Wei, C.Y., Wang, H.P., Zhu, Z.Y., and Sun, Y.H.* (2014). Transcriptional factors Smad1 and Smad9 act redundantly to mediate zebrafish ventral specification downstream of Smad5. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 289, 6604-6618. 

12)    Sun, Y.H., Chen, S.P., Wang, Y.P., Hu, W., and Zhu, Z.Y.* (2005). Cytoplasmic impact on cross-genus cloned fish derived from transgenic common carp (Cyprinus carpio) nuclei and goldfish (Carassius auratus) enucleated eggs. Biology of Reproduction 72, 510-515. (Editor’s choice article) 

Review or Perspective Articles: 

13)    Sun, Y., and Zhu, Z. (2019). Designing future farmed fishes using genome editing. Sci China Life Sci 62, 420-422. 

14)    Ye, D., Zhu, Z., and Sun, Y.* (2015). Fish genome manipulation and directional breeding. Science China Life sciences 58, 170-177. 

15)    Sun, Y.H.*, and Zhu, Z.Y. (2014). Cross-species cloning: influence of cytoplasmic factors on development. J Physiol 592, 2375-2379. 

16)    Zhu, Z. Y. and Sun, Y. H. (2000). Embryonic and genetic manipulation in fish. Cell Research 10, 17-27. 

Book Chapters: 

17)    Ye, D., and Sun, Y.* (2021). Manipulating and Visualizing the Germline with Transgenic Lines. In Germline Development in the Zebrafish, R. Dosch, ed. (Springer US). Methods in Molecular Biology 2218, 265-276. 

18)    Sun, Y., and Zhu, Z. (2003). Producing transgenic fish for aquaculture. In Aquaculture: Retrospective and Outlook. A joint publication of Asian fisheries society and American fisheries society., C.-S. Lee, ed., pp. 229-246.