Faculty
SELF-INTRODUCTION：
TIAN JUN, PhD, is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor & Doctoral Supervisor at SUSTech School of Medicine. She received her PhD degree from McGill University in 2018. Then she conducted postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center from 2019 to 2023. She joined SUSTech School of Medicine on August, 2023. Prof Tian’s primary research focuses on targeted and immune therapies for cancer, with specific interest in investigating mechanisms of drug resistance, developing novel combination therapies, and performing drug test on patient-derived organoid models. She has published more than 10 SCI papers, including first author publications in Nature Medicine, British Journal of Cancer, Breast Cancer Research, etc. She received Graduate Excellence Award from McGill University in 2018, and a research funding as PI from NIH Gastrointestinal (GI) SPOREs Career Enhancement Project in 2022. In addition, Prof Tian served as editor of Frontiers in Genetics, as well as member of American Association of Cancer Research.
EDUCATION:
2009-2013 Nankai University, Bachelor of Science
2013-2018 McGill University, Doctor of Philosophy
WOKRING EXPERIENCE:
2023.08-present SUSTech School of Medicine, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor
2019-2023 Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, Postdoctoral Fellow
2018-2019 McGill University Health Center, Postdoctoral Fellow
HONORS AND AWARDS:
2018 McGill University Graduate Excellence Award
2017 McGill University Faculty of Medicine Productivity Award
RESEARCH:
Basic research: (1) Impact of oncogenic signaling pathways on tumor immune microenvironment; (2) Potential cooperativity between targeted and immune therapy; (3) Resistance mechanisms of cancer targeted therapy. Primary cancer types include GI cancer (mainly colorectal cancer) and pancreatic cancer.
Clinical translational research: By uncovering novel mechanisms of response/resistance to targeted and immune therapies, design novel drug combination strategies for cancer patients harboring different oncogenic mutations (such as KRAS mutation). Identify biomarkers for cancer patients response/resistance.
Establishment of patient-derived organoid model: Used for cancer drug test, mechanistic studies, and biomarker discovery.
MANUSCRIPT REVIEWER AND EDITOR：
Editor of Frontiers in Genetics
Member of American Association of Cancer Research
PUBLICATIONS：
1. Xia Wang, Jing Wu, Aotian Xiao, Jie Wang*, Jun Tian*; Evolution of Direct RAS Inhibitors: From Undruggable Target to Clinical Breakthroughs, Molecular Cancer, 2025 (In press)
2. Liuyang Zhao , Landu Jiang , Yufeng Xie , JianHao Huang ,Haoran Xie, Jun Tian*, Dian Zhang*; scDTL: enhancing single-cell RNA-seq imputation through deep transfer learning with bulk cell information. Briefings In Bioinformatics, 2024, 25(6)
3. Ryan B Corcoran, Khanh T Do, Jeong E Kim, James M Cleary, Aparna R Parikh, Oladapo O Yeku, Niya Xiong, Colin D Weekes, Jennifer Veneris, Leanne G Ahronian, Gianluca Mauri, Jun Tian, Bryanna L Norden, Alexa G Michel, Emily E Van Seventer, Giulia Siravegna, Kyle Camphausen, Gary Chi, Isobel J Fetter, Joan S Brugge, Helen Chen, Naoko Takebe, Richard T Penson, Dejan Juric, Keith T Flaherty, Ryan J Sullivan, Jeffrey W Clark, Rebecca S Heist, Ursula A Matulonis, Joyce F Liu*, Geoffrey I Shapiro*; Phase I/II Study of Combined BCL-xL and MEK Inhibition with Navitoclax and Trametinib in KRAS or NRAS Mutant Advanced Solid Tumors. Clinical Cancer Research, 2024, 30(9), 1739-1749.
4. Jun Tian; Jonathan H. Chen; Sherry X. Chao; Karin Pelka; Marios Giannakis; Julian Hess; Kelly Burke; Vjola Jorgji; Princy Sindurakar; Jonathan Braverman; Arnav Mehta; Tomonori Oka; Mei Huang; David Lieb; Maxwell Spurrell; Jill N. Allen; Thomas A. Abrams; Jeffrey W. Clark; Andrea C. Enzinger; Peter C. Enzinger; Samuel J. Klempner; Nadine J. McCleary; Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt; David P. Ryan; Matthew B. Yurgelun; Katie Kanter; Emily E. Van Seventer; Islam Baiev; Gary Chi; Joy Jarnagin; William B. Bradford; Edmond Wong; Alexa G. Michel; Isobel J. Fetter; Giulia Siravegna; Angelo J. Gemma; Arlene Sharpe; Shadmehr Demehri; Rebecca Leary; Catarina D. Campbell; Omer Yilmaz; Gad A. Getz; Aparna R. Parikh; Nir Hacohen; Ryan B. Corcoran ; Combined PD-1, BRAF and MEK inhibition in BRAFV600E colorectal cancer: a phase 2 trial, Nature Medicine, 2023, 29: 458-466
5. Yi Sun; Or-yam Revach; Seth Anderson; Emily A. Kessler; Clara H. Wolfe; Anne Jenney; Caitlin E. Mills; Emily J. Robitschek; Thomas G. R. Davis; Sarah Kim; Amina Fu; Xiang Ma; Jia Gwee; Payal Tiwari; Peter P. Du; Princy Sindurakar; Jun Tian; Arnav Mehta; Alexis M. Schneider; Keren Yizhak; Moshe Sade-Feldman; Thomas LaSalle; Tatyana Sharova; Hongyan Xie; Shuming Liu; William A. Michaud; Rodrigo Saad-Beretta; Kathleen B. Yates; Arvin Iracheta-Vellve; Johan K. E. Spetz; Xingping Qin; Kristopher A. Sarosiek; Gao Zhang; Jong Wook Kim; Mack Y. Su; Angelina M. Cicerchia; Martin Q. Rasmussen; Samuel J. Klempner; Dejan Juric; Sara I. Pai; David M. Miller; Anita Giobbie-Hurder; Jonathan H. Chen; Karin Pelka; Dennie T. Frederick; Susanna Stinson; Elena Ivanova; Amir R. Aref; Cloud P. Paweletz; David A. Barbie; Debattama R. Sen; David E. Fisher; Ryan B. Corcoran; Nir Hacohen; Peter K. Sorger; Keith T. Flaherty; Genevieve M. Boland; Robert T. Manguso; Russell W. Jenkins ; Targeting TBK1 to overcome resistance to cancer immunotherapy, Nature, 2023, 615(7950): 158-167
6. Tian, Jun; Wang, Vivian; Wang, Ni; Khadang, Baharak; Boudreault, Julien; Bakdounes, Khldoun; Ali, Suhad; Lebrun, Jean-Jacques ; Identification of MFGE8 and KLK5/7 as mediators of breast tumorigenesis and resistance to COX-2 inhibition, BREAST CANCER RESEARCH, 2021, 23(1)
7. Shams, Anwar; Binothman, Najat; Boudreault, Julien; Wang, Ni; Shams, Fuad; Hamam, Dana; Tian, Jun; Moamer, Alaa; Dai, Meiou; Lebrun, Jean-Jacques; Ali, Suhad ; Prolactin receptor-driven combined luminal and epithelial differentiation in breast cancer restricts plasticity, stemness, tumorigenesis and metastasis, ONCOGENESIS, 2021, 10(1)
8. Jun Tian; Fatmah Al Raffa; Meiou Dai; Alaa Moamer; Baharak Khadang; Ibrahim Y.Hachim; Khldoun Bakdounes; Suhad Ali; Bertrand Jean-Claude; Jean-Jacques Lebrun ; Dasatinib sensitises triple negative breast cancer cells to chemotherapy by targeting breast cancer stem cells, British Journal of Cancer, 2018, 119(12): 1495-1507
9. Jun Tian; Amal A.Al-Odaini; Yun Wang; Juliana Korah; Meiou Dai; Lan Xiao; Suhad Ali; Jean-Jacques Lebrun ; KiSS1 gene as a novel mediator of TGFβ-mediated cell invasion in triple negative breast cancer, Cellular Signalling, 2018, 42: 10
10. Jun Tian; Mahmood Y.Hachim; Ibrahim Y.Hachim; Meiou Dai; Chieh Lo; Fatmah Al Raffa; Suhad Ali; Jean Jacques Lebrun ; Cyclooxygenase-2 regulates TGFβ-induced cancer stemness in triplenegative breast cancer, Scientific Reports, 2017, 7: 40258
11. Hongru Zhang; Zheng Li; Li Wang; Gaofei Tian; Jun Tian; Zishan Yang; Guangchao Cao; Hong Zhou; Liqing Zhao; Zhenzhou Wu; Zhinan Yin ; Critical Role of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in Tumor-Induced Liver Immune Suppression through Inhibition of NKT Cell Function, Frontiers in Immunology, 2017, 8(129)
12. Laure Humbert; Mostafa Ghozlan; Lucie Canaff; Jun Tian; Jean-Jacques Lebrun ; The leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and p21 mediate the TGFβ tumor suppressive effects in human cutaneous melanoma, BMC Cancer, 2015, 15(1): 200
13. Jimin Guo; Lucie Canaff; Charles Vincent Rajadurai; Nadège Fils-Aimé; Jun Tian; Meiou Dai; Juliana Korah; Manuel Villatoro; Morag Park; Suhad Ali; Jean-Jacques Lebrun ; Breast cancer anti-estrogen resistance 3 inhibits transforming growth factor β/Smad signaling and associates with favorable breast cancer disease outcomes, Breast Cancer Research, 2014, 16(6): 476