After his medical training in China and graduate education at University of Iowa, Dr. Jin completed residency in cardiovascular medicine and postdoctoral research fellowships at University of Texas at Austin and University of Alberta, Canada. He was Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at University of Calgary, Canada, Associate Professor of Physiology and Biophysics with Tenure at Case Western Reserve University, Section Chief of Molecular Cardiology at ENH Research Institute and Professor of Medicine with Tenure at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and William D. Traitel Endowed Professor with tenure and Chairman of the Department of Physiology at Wayne State University. Dr. Joined the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at UIC as a tenured professor in December 2020.

Dr. Jin is a leading researcher in the field of muscle contractility and cell motility. Dr. Jin has published 190+ research papers and 30+ review articles in international journals and is currently Editor-in-Chief for the journal Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He has served on various journal and grant review panels and lectured at numerous national and international venues. Dr. Jin’s current research interest is in gene regulation, structure-function relationship and pathophysiological adaptations of contractile and cytoskeleton proteins.

Originated from his scientific research, some of Dr. Jin’s discoveries have led to translational applications in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, the treatment of heart failure, and the treatment of cancer metastasis as described in 6 issued and 3 pending US patents, of which he is the inventor.

Established in 1993, Dr. Jin’s laboratory is interested in the regulation and structure-function relationships of contractile and cytoskeleton proteins, especially the actin thin filament regulatory proteins troponin and calponin in muscle and non-muscle cells.

Muscle (cardiac, skeletal and smooth) contraction and non-muscle cell motility play vital roles in physiological activities and pathological conditions. Dr. Jin’s research is focused on the regulation and structure-function relationships of troponin and calponin. Molecular biology and genetic approaches are used to investigate protein isoform evolution and expression as well as to provide engineered protein constructs for functional characterization. Biochemical, biophysical, immunochemical and cell biological methods are employed in the studies of protein structure and function. Cell culture systems and transgenic/gene knock-out/knock-in mouse models are developed for integrative functional characterizations at cellular, organ and whole animal levels.

On going projects:

a) Post-translational regulation of troponin during muscle adaptation and therapeutic development: Restrictive proteolytic modifications of troponin I and troponin T are studied for functional significance in the Ca2+-regulation of myocardial contraction in adaptation to hemodynamic stresses and heart failure. Conformationally modulated sub-molecular structures are identified and characterized to derive peptide reagents for therapeutic applications.

b) Regulation and function of troponin T isoforms: Biochemical and biophysical studies are performed to investigate the functional significance of various troponin T isoforms in the Ca2+-regulation of cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction and diseases. The studies are focused on the abnormal cardiac troponin T splicing variants found in cardiomyopathy and slow skeletal muscle troponin T mutations that cause severe nemaline myopathies.

c) Mechanical tension regulation and function of calponin: To study calponin’s function as a troponin analog in smooth muscle and non-muscle cells, we are investigating their role in the fine-tuning of smooth muscle contractility, non-muscle cell motility, and the function of actin cytoskeleton during development, tissue remodeling, cytokinesis, and other cytoskeleton and cell motility based functions. The studies are focused on static mechanical tension regulated calponin gene expression and protein degradation in epithelial, endothelial, fibroblast, macrophages and smooth muscle cells in various pathological conditions especially in inflammatory diseases.

d) Protein engineering and immunological detection of biomarkers: Advanced technologies are used to generate novel tools and reagents such as fusion peptides and monoclonal antibodies for the development of new diagnostic methods for myocardial and infectious diseases, as well as therapeutic reagents for the treatment of heart failure.

Dr. Jin participates in the teaching of various muscle, cell motility and biotechnology related courses.