时间：2026年10月12日（周一）下午15:00-16:00
Time：15:00-16:00, Monday, October 12th, 2026
主持人: 西湖大学生命科学学院兼交叉科学中心助理教授，万奕含博士
Host: Dr. Yihan Wan, Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences & Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS)
地址：西湖大学云谷校区科研中心南楼，E14-349
Venue: E14-349, Collborative Research Center-South Wing, Yungu Campus, Westlake University
讲座语言：英文
Lecture Language: English
Weixu Wang（汪伟旭）
Doctoral Researcher
Helmholtz Munich & Technical University of Munich, Germany
主讲人/Speaker：
Weixu (Ken) Wang is a PhD researcher in Prof. Fabian Theis' Lab at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich, where he develops computational frameworks at the intersection of single-cell dynamics, gene regulatory networks, and generative model. His work is motivated by a central question in biology: how do cells make fate decisions, and can these decisions be mechanistically modeled and rationally engineered? His doctoral research produced RegVelo, a hybrid generative framework coupling RNA velocity-based dynamics with gene regulatory networks to enable mechanistic simulation of cell differentiation, published in Cell (2026). He is also the corresponding author of hUSI (Nature Aging, 2025), a universal stemness index derived from single-cell transcriptomics, and first author of NetID (Genome Biology, 2024) and ICAnet (Nucleic Acids Research, 2021).
Beyond his research, Weixu is an active contributor to the scientific community. He serves as a peer reviewer for journals including Nature Communications, Genome Biology, and Nucleic Acids Research, and reviews for leading computational biology conferences including RECOMB. He has been invited to present his work at international venues including the Milano Longevity Summit, ECMTB, and FAOBMB 2026 in Hong Kong. He is a recipient of the National Scholarship of China and the Shanghai Outstanding Graduate Award, and will join the Arc Institute as a visiting scholar in the lab of Prof. Patrick Hsu.
讲座摘要/Abstract:
Although different cell types arise from the same DNA sequence, a fundamental question remains: how do cells generate functional diversity from identical genetic information? Furthermore, if the underlying principles can be understood, can we use this knowledge to deliberately design cell fates with desired phenotypes? In this talk, I will first introduce how gene regulatory networks can be reconstructed from single-cell genomic data using a combination of matrix factorization and Granger causality analysis. I will then describe a strategy that integrates gene regulation with RNA dynamics to identify potential driver regulators, using spermatogenesis as an example. Next, I will present RegVelo, a deep generative model that directly links gene regulation to cell fate determination. In addition, I will introduce a method based on hUSI that connects transcriptomic features with cellular aging, highlighting the importance of defining phenotypic spaces beyond the molecular level. Finally, I will outline FateLoop, a closed-loop extension in which such a virtual model becomes a design engine, and reinforcement learning searches it against an phenotypical objective. Overall, our goal is to develop an interpretable virtual cell model that provides a powerful framework for understanding the mechanisms that govern cell fate decisions.
讲座联系人/Contact:
西湖大学交叉科学中心，朱子霖，邮箱：zhuzilin@westlake.edu.cn
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS), Westlake University, Ms. Zilin Zhu, Email: zhuzilin@westlake.edu.cn
