Zhen Yan

Dr. Zhen Yan received her bachelor’s degree from the School of Life Sciences at Nanjing University in 2011 and received her Ph.D. in Biology from Tsinghua University in 2016. She subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at Tsinghua University and Princeton University before joining Westlake University as a principal investigator in 2019. In 2025, she passed the tenure review and was promoted to tenured associate professor. The Yan Lab specializes in deciphering the molecular mechanisms of protein translocation in chloroplasts (Cell 2022, Cell 2024a, Cell 2024b). Dr. Yan has received numerous honors including the Xplorer Prize, Rising Stars in Plant Sciences, Wei Zhiming Young Innovator Award, Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize.