Bio

Dr. Fan graduated from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in 2008 with a master degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and then got his PhD degree in Evolutionary Biology from the Department of Biology at the University of Konstanz in 2014. After a short period of Postdoc at the University of Konstanz, he moved to the U.S and had his postdoctoral training in Prof. Sarah Tishkoff’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2018. In August 2018, Dr. Fan became a PI at the School of Life Sciences and Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, China.

Selected publications

• Y Zhang ... S Fan 2025 An ancient regulatory variant of ACSF3 influences the coevolution of increased human height and basal metabolic rate via metabolic homeostasis. Cell Genomics 5 (6) Featured article 

• C Zhou... S Fan 2025 Long-read sequencing reveals novel genetic polymorphisms in the major histocompatibility complex region and their impacts on the Han Chinese population. Science China Life Sciences 1-10

• J Gong, ..., S Fan 2025 Long-read sequencing of 945 Han individuals identifies structural variants associated with phenotypic diversity and disease susceptibility. Nature Communications 16 (1), 1494

• K Su., ..., S Fan 2025 De novo missense variants of UNC13A are implicated in epileptic encephalopathies and neurodevelopmental disorders. Genes & Diseases, 101315

• S Fan., et al 2023Whole-genome sequencing reveals a complex African population demographic history and signatures of local adaptation, Cell 186 (5), 923-939. e14 Cover article 

• Fan, S., Kelly, DE., Beltrame, MH., et al. 2019 African evolutionary history inferred from whole genome sequence data of 44 indigenous African populations. Genome Biology, 20, Article number: 82 (PMID:31023338 )

• Fan, S*., Hansen, ME*., Yancy, L*., Tishkoff, SA, 2016. Going global by adapting local: A review of recent human adaptation. Science Vol. 354, Issue 6308, pp. 54-59. (PMID: 27846491) Cover Article

• Lin, Q*., Fan, S*., et al., 2016. The seahorse genome and the evolution of its specialized morphology. Nature Cover Article