Fabai Wu

Associate Professor

NSFC Excellent Scientist

fabaiwu@eitech.edu.cn

Background Information: 

Fabai Wu, Ph.D, Associate Professor. After obtaining his BSc in Biotechnology at Zhejiang University, MSc in Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden and MSc in Nanoscience in Nanoscience at TU Delft, he worked with biophysicst Cees Dekker at TU Delft during his Ph.D (cum laude) and marine microbiologist Victoria Orphan at Caltech during his postdoc research. He worked at Zhejiang University Hangzhou Innovation Center as an independent principal investigator for 2 years until he joined EIT in 2024 as an associate professor. His research covers a range of topics in the field microbiology, with recent interest in the prokaryotic origin of eukaryotes, host-virust interactions, and nitrogen fixation. He has received a number of awards and fellowships, including the biannual Kavli Thesis Prize, Rubicon fellowship, Human Frontiers Science Program fellowship, Oceanomics Young Investigator Award, and NSFC Young Investigator Award.


Research Field:

Genomics and cell biology of Archaea

Molecular biophysics of the origin of eukaryotes

Host-virus/mobilome interactions across tree of life

Physiology, ecology, and synthetic biology of nitrogen fixation

(See lab webpage: www.microwulab.com)


Educational Background:

2010-2015: Ph. D in Biophysics and Nanoscience (cum laude), Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, TU Delft, NL

2008-2010: M. Sc. in Nanoscience (cum laude), Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, TU Delft, Delft, NL

2008-2010: M. Sc. in Molecular Bioengineering, Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, DE   

2004-2010: B. Sc. in Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, CN 


Work Experience:

2024.04 – NOW: Associate Professor, Division of Science, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo

2022.03-2024.03: Principal Investigator, Zhejiang University Hangzhou Innovation Center

2016.12-2021.08Postdoc, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, US.

2015.10-2016.11: Postdoc, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, TU Delft, NL


Academic Experience: 

2017.02-2021.08: Visiting Scholar, University of Southern California Department of Earth Sciences


Academic Part-time Jobs (Partial):

2021.12-Now: Board member of the Society of Archaea


Awards and Honors:

2022: National Science Foundation of China Young Investigator Award

2022: Oceanomics Yong Investigator Award

2017: Kavli Thesis Prize (Best Ph.D Thesis 2015-2017)

2017: Human Frontiers Science Program Long Term Fellowship

2017: Rubicon Fellowship

2015: cum laude Ph.D (TU Delft)


Representative Works:


General Information

19 academic publications in international journals including Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Microbiology, and Nature Communications.


Google Scholar:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3WpApsMAAAAJ&hl=en


10 Representative Works(* equal contribution,# corresponding authors)

10. Shomar H*, Georjon H*, Feng Y, Olympio B, Tesson F, Cury J, Wu F# & Bernheim A#. Viperin immunity evolved across the tree of life through serial innovations on a conserved scaffold. Under review & BioRxiv 

9. Bastiaanssen C*, Bobadilla Ugarte P*, Kim K*, Feng Y*, Finocchio G*, Anzelon TA, Kostlbacher S, Tamarit D, Ettma TJG, Jinek M, MacRae IJ, Joo C#, Swarts DC# & Wu F#. RNA-guided RNA silencing by an Asgard archaeal Argonaute. Under review & BioRxiv 

8. Laso-Perez R*,#, Wu F*,#, Crémière A, Speth DS, Zhao K, Magyar JS, Krupovic M# & Orphan VJ#. Evolutionary diversification of methanotrophic ANME-1 archaea and their expansive virome. Nature Microbiology 8, 231-245. (2023)

7. Wu F#, Speth DR, Philosof A, Crémière A, Narayanan A, Barco RA, Connon SA, Amend JP, Antonshechkin IA, Orphan VJ#. Unique mobile elements and scalable gene flow at the prokaryote-eukaryote boundary revealed by circularized Asgard archaea genomes. Nature Microbiology 7, 200-212. (2022) [JOURNAL COVER]

6. Wu F, Swain P, Kuijpers L, Zheng X, Felters K, Guurink M, Solari J, Jun S, Shimizu T, Chaudhuri D, Mulder B & Dekker C. Cell boundary confinement sets the size and position of the E. coli chromosome. Current Biology 29, 2131-2144. (2019) 

5. Wu F*, Japaridze A*, Zheng X, Wiktor J, Kerssemakers J, & Dekker C. Direct imaging of the circular chromosome in a live bacterium. Nature Communications 10, 2194. (2019) 

4. Bisson-Filho AW, Hsu YP, Squyres YS, Kuru E, Wu F, Jukes C, Sun Y, Dekker C, Holden S, van Nieuwenhze MS, Brun YV & Garner EC. Treadmilling by FtsZ filaments drives peptidoglycan synthesis and bacterial cell division. Science 355, 739-743. (2017) 

3. Wu F*, Halatek J*, Reiter M, Kingma E, Frey E & Dekker C. Multistability and dynamic transitions of intracellular Min protein patterns. Molecular Systems Biology 12, 873. (2016) [JOURNAL COVER]

2. Wu F & Dekker C. Nanofabricated structures and microfluidic devices for bacteria: from techniques to biology. Chemical Society Reviews 45, 268-280. (2016) 

1. Wu F, van Schie BGC, Keymer JE & Dekker C. Symmetry and scale orient Min protein patterns in bacterial shape sculptures. Nature Nanotechnology 10, 719-726. (2015) [JOURNAL COVER]