Congrats on Eleanor on a fantastic rotation talk!
We are very proud to celebrate Eleanor for giving an outstanding rotation talk in her program. Since joining the Qian Lab as our first …
The Qian Lab
The Qian Lab studies human cerebral cortex development and disease using brain organoids, spatial omics, and genetics to uncover mechanisms of normal development and neurodevelopmental disorders, with the goal of enabling human-specific therapeutic insights.
Lab News
See All newsNew publication- Overcoming diffusion limits to advance brain organoids
The first independent publication from the Qian Lab is out! And.. it is a short review. For the past 12 years, the one question I got asked …
2026 Lunar New Year Celebration! 春节快乐！马到成功！
Here’s to a great Year of the Horse!!!!!
Our Research
The Qian Lab investigates the development and disorders of the human cerebral cortex, the brain’s most evolutionarily advanced and disease-vulnerable region. To overcome the limitations of traditional models, the lab integrates human-based approaches, including brain organoid models, spatial omics technologies, and human genetics, to uncover the cellular and molecular programs that shape cortical development.
Ongoing Projects
- Building a spatially resolved developmental atlas of the human cerebral cortex
- Applying spatial omics to uncover pathological mechanisms in neurodevelopmental disorders
- Developing advanced human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids that recapitulate specific cortical areas
- Modeling neurodevelopmental diseases in organoids derived from patient iPSC lines or genetically engineered cells
- Studying the specification of neuronal subtypes in human organoids upon transplantation into animal brains
Through this work, the Qian Lab aims to decode the mechanisms of neuronal subtype specification and to uncover how these processes go awry in disorders such as malformations of cortical development (MCD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Ultimately, the lab seeks to lay a foundation for therapeutic strategies grounded in human biology.
Research Highlights
- Decoding human cortical development using spatial transcriptomics. (Qian, Coleman, Jiang, et al., Nature, 2025)
- Development of brain organoid technologies. (Qian, et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2020; Qian, Jacob, et al., Nature Protocols, 2018; Qian, Nguyen, et al., Cell 2016)
- Study of novel genes and their variants involved in brain development and disorders. (Qian, DeGennaro, et al., Developmental Cell, 2022)
- Mechanisms underlying Congenital Zika Syndrome. (Qian et al., Development, 2016; Qian, Nguyen, et al., Cell 2016; Tang et al., Cell Stem Cell 2016)