Jin-qi FAN

Jean Fan is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Center for Computational Biology at Johns Hopkins University, where she leads the JEFworks Lab. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular and spatial-contextual factors that shape cellular identity and heterogeneity, with a particular emphasis on single-cell and spatially resolved multi-omic data. Her lab develops machine learning and statistical methods, released as open-source software, to analyze high-dimensional biomedical data generated by advanced imaging and sequencing technologies. By integrating computational modeling with experimental data, her work aims to uncover spatial regulatory mechanisms that drive disease pathogenesis, progression, and prognosis. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, she was an NCI F99/K00 postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in the lab of Xiaowei Zhuang, where she developed computational approaches for spatial transcriptomics and applied MERFISH to study cellular and subcellular heterogeneity. She earned her PhD in Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics at Harvard University, working closely with collaborators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on computational methods for single-cell analysis in cancer research. Her contributions to computational biology and STEM education have been recognized by honors including the Forbes 30 Under 30, the Nature Research Award for Inspiring Science, the NSF CAREER Award, and the NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award. Representative publications include "Abstract P3132: Tgfβ Signaling Triggers Nonmyocyte Gene Expression In Tbx18-induced Pacemaker Myocytes And Abbreviates Their Automaticity", and "Abstract 15180: Inhibition of Tgfβ Signaling Enables Durable Ventricular Pacing by TBX18 Gene Transfer", which reflect their ongoing engagement with the field.