I am interested in functional genomics and neurobiology, especially neurodegenerative disease. My current project seeks to understand the pathological mechanism of ALS, focusing on the mislocalization and loss-of-function of TDP-43, by high-throughput genetic screens to identify factors driving TDP-43 pathology.

1. Eun Yu Kim, Ling Wang, Zhen Lei^*, Hui Li, Wenwen Fan, Jungnam Cho. Ribosome stalling and SGS3 phase separation prime the epigenetic silencing of transposons. Nature Plants, 2021.
2. Zhen Lei, Ling Wang, EunYu Kim, Jungnam Cho. Phase separation of chromatin and small RNA pathways in plants. The Plant Journal, 2021.
3. Zhen Lei, Eun Yu Kim, Jungnam Cho. Enrichment of cytoplasmic RGs. Bio-Protocol, 2021.
4. Wenwen Fan, Ling Wang, Zhen Lei^* , Hui Li, Jie Chu, Mengxiao Yan, Yuqin Wang, Hongxia Wang, Jun Yang, Jungnam Cho. m6A RNA demethylase AtALKBH9B promotes mobilization of a heat-activated long terminal repeat retrotransposon in Arabidopsis. Science Advances, 2023.