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Weizhi Ji

Kunming University of Science and Technology

Weizhi Ji

Prof. Weizhi Ji currently is Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor and Director of Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research/ Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology. In 1985-1987, Prof. Ji worked as a scientist in Oregon National Primate Research Center and Smithsonian Institution in US. Since 1996 till 2005, he had served as the director of Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the meantime, from 1995 to 1997, he held visiting professor position in University of Wisconsin. In 1996, Prof. Ji was named as the director of China-US Joint Primate Biology Laboratory, which was co-established by Kunming Institute of Zoology and Wisconsin Primate Research Center.

Prof. Ji has been engaged in primate reproductive biology research since 1980s and he takes the lead in primate stem cell research in China. His lab reported the first gene-modified rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys via Cas9/RNA-mediated gene targeting in 2014 and then first proved the feasibility of generate chimeric monkeys using ESCs in 2015. His team has established human, monkey, rabbit and mouse embryonic stem cell lines and adult stem cell lines. His study found the mechanism of embryonic stem cells differentiate into neural stem cells in vivo and the integration mechanisms in vitro. Now his research focuses on generation of transgenic monkeys, stem cell self-renewal mechanisms and stem cell replacement therapy research, where he has published a lot in high level magazines of this area, such as "Cell", "Cell Stem Cells", "PNAS", "Biology of Reproduction", "Human Reproduction" and other magazines.