Xiaoshu Zhan Position/Title: Ph.D. Candidate email: xzhan01@uoguelph.ca Phone: (519)731-7066 Office: ANNU 103 Google Scholar Research Gate LinkedIn

Education

Ph.D. Candidate - Animal BioSciences, University of Guelph (2019 - Current)

Visiting Ph.D. student - Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (2021- Current)

M.Sc - Veterinary Medicine, Foshan University, China (2016 - 2019)

B.Sc - Biotechnology, Foshan University, China (2012 - 2016)

Research projects:

Improvement of female fertility is of great significance to both human beings and the animal industry.  The main research of my Ph.D. thesis is to investigate the mechanism of miRNAs in the regulation of ovarian development and oocyte maturation, and provide solutions to female infertility-related diseases.  It is reported that the pathogenesis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which its prevalence is as high as 20% among women, is closely related to the dysbiosis of the gut microbiome. One of my main tasks is to isolate probiotics from extreme environments and screen out probiotics with potential traits that can be used to regulate gut microbiota composition which in turn has prevented and therapeutic effects on PCOS.  This project is in cooperation with Dr.Benjamin Tsang in the Univerity of Ottawa. Another task is to investigate the role of miRNA in autophagy and estrogen production in ovarian granulosa cells and their underlying mechanism. With knowing these mechanisms, we can apply miRNAs to improve in vitro/vivo fertilization rate or use miRNAs as biomarkers for fertility diagnosis. All these projects are under the supervision of Dr.Julang Li. While working alongside my lab mates  Bo Pan, Lauren Fletcher, Sudhanshu Sudan, Serena Dingel, and Maureen Sahar, I have been fortunate enough to assist them and gain expertise outside of my thesis project which includes 1) The large scale trial to screen selective biomarkers from high fertility and infertility pigs; 2) Fermenting antimicrobial peptides and growth factors from Pichia pastoris; 3)Swine in vitro fertilization and embryonic stem cells isolation.

Featured Publications

1. Zhan X, Fletcher L, Dingle S, Baracuhy E, Wang B, Huber LA, Li J. Choline supplementation influences ovarian follicular development. Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2021 Dec 30;26(12):1525-1536. 

2. Zhan X, El-Ashram S, Luo D, Luo H, Wang , Chen S, Bai Y, Chen Z, Liu C, Ji H. A Comparative Study of Biological Characteristics and Transcriptome Profiles of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Different Canine Tissues. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Mar 25;20(6):1485.

3. Hilker RE, Pan B, Zhan X, Li J. MicroRNA-21 enhances estradiol production by inhibiting WT1 expression in granulosa cells. J Mol Endocrinol. 2021 Nov 12;68(1):11-22. 

4. Pan B, Liu C, Zhan X, Li J. Protegrin-1 Regulates Porcine Granulosa Cell Proliferation via the EGFR-ERK1/2/p38 Signaling Pathway in vitro. Front Physiol. 2021 May 21;12:673777. 

5. Bai Y, Pan B, Zhan X, Silver H, Li J. MicroRNA 195-5p Targets Foxo3 Promoter Region to Regulate Its Expression in Granulosa Cells. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jun 23;22(13):6721. 

6. Lin Y, Liu C, Zhan X, Wang B, Li K, Li J. Jagged1 and Epidermal Growth Factor Promoted Androgen-Suppressed Mouse Hair Growth In Vitro and In Vivo. Front Pharmacol. 2020 Jan 31;10:1634.

7. Bai Y, Zhu C, Feng M, Pan B, Zhang S, Zhan X, Chen H, Wang B, Li J. Establishment of A Reversibly Inducible Porcine Granulosa Cell Line. Cells. 2020 Jan 8;9(1):156.