News | Qian Lab

September 2, 2026

Qian Lab Receives John Templeton Foundation Grant

We are grateful and excited to share that the Qian Lab has received a new grant from the John Templeton Foundation to support our project, “Genetic Origins of Individuality: Adaptive Learning in Human …

July 16, 2026

Eleanor Receives Young Investigator Award from the ASXL Rare Research Endowment Foundation

Congratulations to Eleanor Mills, a PhD student in the lab, on receiving a Young Investigator Award from the ASXL Rare Research Endowment Foundation. The award recognizes research Eleanor conducted as …

June 26, 2026

The Qian Lab is Recruiting Postdoctoral Fellows

We are recruiting postdoctoral fellows to join the Qian Lab! Come help us uncover the cellular and molecular programs of human cortical development using brain organoids, single-cell genomics, and spatial transcriptomics.

June 24, 2026

Dareen's Poem Published in CHOP’s Diastole Magazine!

We are delighted to share that Dareen has her poem “Rootbound” published in CHOP’s literary and arts magazine Diastole. In the lab, we know Dareen as a thoughtful, dedicated, and wonderful member. It …

June 20, 2026

Cortical Evolution 2026 Conference at Bilbao, Spain

From Xuyu- I had a wonderful time attending the Cortical Evolution 2026 conference in Bilbao, Spain. It was a beautiful place for a meeting, and the conference brought together a fantastic community …

May 29, 2026

Congratulations to Phoebe Zhang on Receiving the Roy and Diana Vagelos Research Award in Life Sciences and Management

Congratulations to Phoebe Zhang, an undergraduate researcher in the Qian Lab, on receiving the 2026 First-year Summer Research Award from the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and …

May 22, 2026

Matt Receives GfFMUR Award funded by the Provost’s Office

Congratulations to Matt, whose summer research in the Qian Lab will be supported by Penn’s Grant for Faculty Mentoring Undergraduate Research (GfFMUR), a Provost-supported program administered through …

May 7, 2026

Eleanor and Erica at present posters at the Lurie Autism Institute Symposium

We had a wonderful day at the Lurie Autism Institute Symposium at CHOP, featuring exciting science, inspiring talks, and engaging discussions across the neurodevelopmental disorder research community. …

April 15, 2026

Aidan receives 2026 Autism Science Foundation Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship

We are excited to share that Aidan Gor, an undergraduate student in the Qian Lab and freshman at Penn, has been selected to receive a 2026 Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship from the Autism …

April 11, 2026

Xuyu Receives 2025 Academic Science Video of the Year Award from Bilibili

I’m happy to share that a video I created about our Nature paper on human brain development received the 2025 Academic Science Video of the Year Award at the Gezhi Science Communication Awards. I made …

April 2, 2026

NextGen Omics 2026

Excited to present our work at the NextGen Omics Conference in Boston. This meeting marked a special milestone for the lab - the first conference presentation featuring results generated by members of …

March 20, 2026

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 rotation student, she has brought exceptional motivation, …

March 3, 2026

New 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 the most- “Can you add blood vessels to …

February 16, 2026

2026 Lunar New Year Celebration! 春节快乐！马到成功！

Here’s to a great Year of the Horse!!!!!

January 30, 2026

Welcome Jie, the first postdoc in the Qian lab!

We are thrilled to welcome Jie as the first postdoc in the Qian Lab. With training in neurobiology and cell biology in Dr. Zhiheng Xu’s lab and Chinese Academy of Sciences, her work bridges …