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Min Han (born 1956[citation needed]) is a Chinese American geneticist and molecular biologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Early life and education

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Han was born in Shanghai, China.[citation needed] His youth and education were strongly impacted by a life-threatening tracheal stenosis and the cultural revolution under Mao Zedong. After multiple childhood surgeries and many years’ recovery at home, he overcame his medical condition. The medical crisis interrupted his classroom education, which was replaced by years of self-learning at home. After graduating from middle school in 1975, Han was sent to a farm in Anhui province to work as part of Mao’s “Up to the mountains, down to the countryside” movement, along with millions of other middle and high school graduates. In 1977, after Mao's death, the examination-based college entrance program was re-established in China. Through self-study, Han covered all the high school material and successfully enrolled in Peking University in 1978 and received his BS degree in Biochemistry in 1982. His academic performance secured a spot for him in the China-United States Biochemistry Examination and Application (CUSBEA) program that connected rising Chinese students with Ph.D. programs in the US.[1] In 1983, Han became a graduate student at UCLA. He joined the lab of Dr. Michael Grunstein where he studied the functions of histones and nucleosomes in transcription, earning a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 1988. He completed his postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Paul Sternberg at CalTech, where he studied developmental genetics. Han opened his own research lab at the University of Colorado Boulder in 1991 in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. Influenced by the mindset of his former advisors and the intellectual freedom he received during his training, Han adopted an uncommon approach for his research program.[2][3] Han was selected to become an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1997,[4] was given the title of Distinguished Professor in 2019,[5] and became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024.[6][7]

Research

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Han worked on exploring the functions of histone proteins in transcriptional regulation under the guidance of his graduate mentor Dr. Michael Grunstein. Dr. Grunstein was awarded the Lasker Award in 2018; Han's 1988 Cell paper[8] with Grunstein was listed as a key publication for the award.[9]

Han's postdoctoral advisor was Dr. Paul Sternberg. In the Sternberg lab, Han discovered the C. elegans ras gene let-60, and its role in controlling developmental decisions (Han & Sternberg 1990, Cell)[10][11][12]

Major scientific discoveries made in the Min Han Lab at the University of Colorado include:

  • Discovered and analyzed the roles of a number of regulators of the conserved RTK-RAS-MPK signaling pathway; discovered many unknown roles of tumor suppressors in development and stress responses.[13][14]
  • Established the concept of universal pairing of SUN-KASH proteins (LINC complexes) at the nuclear envelope and pioneered the study of their functions in multiple cellular/developmental events in both C. elegans and mice.[15][16][17][18]
  • Discovered the role of GW182 family proteins in miRISCs and a pioneered biochemical method to systematically analyze the in vivo miRNA-target interactions; discovered miRNA-like regulatory function for apoptotic caspases.[19][20][21][22]
  • Uncovered novel functions of fatty acid variants and multiple novel mechanisms by which animals sense the level of specific fatty acids and nucleotides to regulate animal development and behaviors.[23][24][25][26][27]
  • Discovered "surprising" beneficial roles for two bacteria-derived molecules in animal physiology that indicates new paradigms pertinent to microbe-host interactions (enterobactin and peptidoglycan muropeptides).[28][29][30][31][32]

Recognition and awards

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References

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  1. ^ Chang, Zengyi (2009). "The CUSBEA program: Twenty years after". IUBMB Life. 61 (6): 555–565. doi:10.1002/iub.218. ISSN 1521-6551. PMID 19472190.
  2. ^ Han, Min (2015-11-01). "Twists and turns—How we stepped into and had fun in the "boring" lipid field". Science China Life Sciences. 58 (11): 1073–1083. doi:10.1007/s11427-015-4949-6. ISSN 1869-1889. PMID 26511515.
  3. ^ Gates, Leah; Weaver, Benjamin P. (2025-04-21). "Career pathways, part 17". Nature Metabolism: 1–4. doi:10.1038/s42255-025-01288-9. ISSN 2522-5812. PMID 40259048.
  4. ^ "Min Han, PhD | Former Investigator Profile | 1997-2018". www.hhmi.org. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  5. ^ "4 CU Boulder faculty members become distinguished professors | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  6. ^ "Min Han | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. 2025-05-19. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  7. ^ "3 CU Boulder professors named American Academy of Arts and Sciences members | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  8. ^ Han, Min; Grunstein, Michael (1988-12-23). "Nucleosome loss activates yeast downstream promoters in vivo". Cell. 55 (6): 1137–1145. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(88)90258-9. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 2849508.
  9. ^ Admin, Lasker. "Histone modifications and gene expression". Lasker Foundation. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  10. ^ Han, Min; Sternberg, Paul W. (1990-11-30). "let-60, a gene that specifies cell fates during C. elegans vulval induction, encodes a ras protein". Cell. 63 (5): 921–931. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(90)90495-Z. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 2257629.
  11. ^ Greenwald, Iva; Broach, James R. (1990-12-21). "Cell fates in C. elegans: In medias ras". Cell. 63 (6): 1113–1116. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(90)90403-2. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 2261634.
  12. ^ Bourne, Henry R.; Sanders, David A.; McCormick, Frank (November 1990). "The GTPase superfamily: a conserved switch for diverse cell functions". Nature. 348 (6297): 125–132. Bibcode:1990Natur.348..125B. doi:10.1038/348125a0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 2122258.
  13. ^ Downward, Julian (1995-12-15). "KSR: A novel player in the RAS pathway". Cell. 83 (6): 831–834. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(95)90198-1. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 8521506.
  14. ^ Sternberg, Paul W.; Alberola-Ila, José (1998-11-13). "Conspiracy Theory: RAS and RAF Do Not Act Alone". Cell. 95 (4): 447–450. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81612-8. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 9827797.
  15. ^ Ruegg, Markus A. (2005-04-19). "Organization of synaptic myonuclei by Syne proteins and their role during the formation of the nerve–muscle synapse". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (16): 5643–5644. Bibcode:2005PNAS..102.5643R. doi:10.1073/pnas.0501516102. PMC 556304. PMID 15827115.
  16. ^ Pentimalli, Francesca (July 2007). "Helping homologues to find their partners". Nature Reviews Genetics. 8 (7): 493. doi:10.1038/nrg2154. ISSN 1471-0064.
  17. ^ Koizumi, Hiroyuki; Gleeson, Joseph G. (2009-10-29). "Sun Proteins Enlighten Nuclear Movement in Development". Neuron. 64 (2): 147–149. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.010. ISSN 0896-6273. PMC 4340071. PMID 19874779.
  18. ^ Starr, Daniel A. (2012-09-11). "Laminopathies: Too Much SUN Is a Bad Thing". Current Biology. 22 (17): R678 – R680. Bibcode:2012CBio...22.R678S. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.070. ISSN 0960-9822. PMC 4090695. PMID 22974992.
  19. ^ Stevens, Katherine (February 2008). "Gathering a bouquet of miRNA targets". Nature Methods. 5 (2): 123. doi:10.1038/nmeth0208-122b. ISSN 1548-7105.
  20. ^ Aguirre-Chen, Cristina; Hammell, Christopher M (2014-12-30). "Cell death machinery makes life more robust". eLife. 3: e05816. doi:10.7554/eLife.05816. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 4279077. PMID 25549297.
  21. ^ Conradt, Barbara (2017-06-19). "Partners in Crime". Developmental Cell. 41 (6): 573–574. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2017.06.002. ISSN 1534-5807. PMID 28633011.
  22. ^ Yarychkivska, Olya; Shaham, Shai (2020-05-04). "Development or Disease: Caspases Balance Growth and Immunity in C. elegans". Developmental Cell. 53 (3): 259–260. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2020.04.006. ISSN 1534-5807. PMID 32369740.
  23. ^ "In roundworms, fats tip the scales of fertility | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  24. ^ VanHook, Annalisa M. (2008-08-12). "Fatty Acid-Regulated Diapause". Science Signaling. 1 (32): ec289. doi:10.1126/scisignal.132ec289.
  25. ^ Vrablik, Tracy L.; Watts, Jennifer L. (2012-04-01). "Emerging roles for specific fatty acids in developmental processes". Genes & Development. 26 (7): 631–637. doi:10.1101/gad.190777.112. ISSN 0890-9369. PMC 3323873. PMID 22474257.
  26. ^ Shi, Cheng; Murphy, Coleen T. (2016-02-01). "Feeding the germline". Genes & Development. 30 (3): 249–250. doi:10.1101/gad.276980.115. ISSN 0890-9369. PMC 4743054. PMID 26833726.
  27. ^ VanHook, Annalisa M. (2016-02-09). "Notch for nucleotide sensing". Science Signaling. 9 (414): ec27. doi:10.1126/scisignal.aaf4220.
  28. ^ "The unexpected upside of E. coli | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  29. ^ "How the E. coli Bacterium Can Benefit Us | Microbiology". Labroots. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  30. ^ Boulder, University of Colorado at. "E. coli bacterium key for boosting iron absorption, new study shows". phys.org. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  31. ^ Kim, Dennis H. (2018-10-04). "Bacterial Siderophores Promote Animal Host Iron Acquisition and Growth". Cell. 175 (2): 311–312. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.09.020. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 30290138.
  32. ^ Anderson, Gregory J. (2018-11-22). "Iron Wars — The Host Strikes Back". New England Journal of Medicine. 379 (21): 2078–2080. doi:10.1056/NEJMcibr1811314. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 30462940.
  33. ^ "Min Han | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. 2025-05-19. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  34. ^ "3 CU Boulder professors named American Academy of Arts and Sciences members | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  35. ^ "4 CU Boulder faculty members become distinguished professors | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  36. ^ "Min Han, PhD | Former Investigator Profile | 1997-2018". www.hhmi.org. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  37. ^ "Searle Scholars Program". Searle Scholars Program. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  38. ^ "Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards". www.marchofdimes.org. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  39. ^ Read "Evaluation of the Markey Scholars Program" at NAP.edu. 2006. doi:10.17226/11755. ISBN 978-0-309-10292-6.
  40. ^ "Alumni Fellows". Life Sciences Research Foundation. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
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