Tel: 0086-21-31242901
 Email: wei_dai@fudan.edu.cn
  Office Address: Room C7009, Interdisciplinary Building No.2, Fudan University 

Personal Profile

Wei obtained her B.S. at Fudan University, and her Ph.D. at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She then did her postdoc training in Dr. Denise Montell’s laboratory at JHMI and UCSB, and subsequently she worked in Dr. Calum MacRae’s laboratory at BWH/HMS. Wei joined the Institute of Metabolism & Integrative Biology (IMIB), Fudan University in 2021.

Research Interests

Embryo development relies on maternally supplied nutrients. In egg-layer animals, these nutrients are stored in yolk granules and utilized upon fertilization. The yolk sac is also evolutionarily conserved in mammals, providing nutrients before implantation. How yolk metabolism controls embryonic development, as well as how embryonic development crosstalk to regulate yolk metabolism, are poorly understood. Our lab uses Zebrafish as a model to study these fundamental questions regarding yolk metabolism and embryonic development. We integrate genetics, imaging, and systems biology approaches to identify the dynamics changes and critical pathways involved. Our study aims to reveal an evolutionally conserved regulatory mechanism of how metabolism is tightly regulated during embryonic development, which may shed light on the developmental origins of metabolic diseases.

Selected Publications

1. Guo X#, Mutch M#, Torres AY, Nano M, Rauth N, Harwood J, McDonald D, Chen Z, Montell C, Dai W*, Montell DJ*. The Zn2+ transporter ZIP7 enhances endoplasmic-reticulum-associated protein degradation and prevents neurodegeneration in Drosophila. Dev Cell, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.04.003. *co-corresponding author

2. Pang B#, Yu LY#, Li T#, Jiao HZ, Wu XM, Wang JX, He RP, Zhang YR, Wang J, Hu HL, Dai W*, Chen L*, Ren RB*. Molecular basis of Spns2-facilitated sphingosine-1-phosphate transport. Cell Res, 2024, 34(2):173-176.

3. Dai W#, Guo X#, Cao Y, Mondo J, Campanale J, Montell B, Burrous H, Streichan S, Gov N, Rappel WJ, Montell DJ*. Tissue Topography steers migrating Drosophila border cells. Science, 2020, 370(6519): 987-990. #co-first author

4. Dai W, Peterson A, Kenney T, Burrous H, Montell DJ*. Quantitative microscopy of the Drosophila ovary shows multiple niche signals specify progenitor cell fate. Nat Commun, 2017, 8(1): 1244.

5. Dai W, Montell DJ. Live Imaging of Border Cell Migration in Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol, 2016; 1407:153-68.

6. Dai W, Bai Y, Hebda L, Zhong X, Liu J, Kao J, Duan C*. Calcium deficiency-induced and TRP channel-regulated IGF1R-PI3K-Akt signaling regulates abnormal epithelial cell proliferation. Cell Death Differ, 2014, 21(4): 568-581.

7. Dai W, Kamei H, Zhao Y, Ding J, Du Z, Duan C*. Duplicated zebrafish insulin-like growth factor binding protein-5 genes with split functional domains: evidence for evolutionarily conserved IGF binding, nuclear localization, and transactivation activity. FASEB J, 2010, 24(6): 2020-2029.