Zechuan Lin, PhD
Associate Research ScientistDownloadHi-Res Photo
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Neurology
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Associate Research Scientist
Biography
Dr. Lin was recruited to the Adams Center from Harvard in 2024. He received his PhD at the prestigious Peking University, one of China’s highest ranked educational institutions under the tutelage of Prof. Xing Wang Deng, a fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2019.
Dr. Lin’s research is focused on revealing the causal relationships between genome variants, epigenetic marks, gene expression, and quantitative traits. Dr. Lin has published on complex and quantitative trait genetics during his graduate studies as first author in Lin et al. PNAS, 2020 and as co-first author in Wang*, Lin* et al., Nature Genetics, 2020.
In these high-profile publications, Dr. Lin honed the quantitative trait locus and causal inference analyses, that he is now applying at the single-cell level to Parkinson’s disease in the Parkinson Cell Atlas in 5D project.
Last Updated on November 17, 2025.
Appointments
Education & Training
- Postdoc Research Fellow
- Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital (2023)
- PhD
- Peking University, College of Life Sciences (2019)
Research
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Overview
My research programs are dedicated to a central question: how to translate these complex human brain-cell-spatial gene activity map into druggable targets of human brain diseases for combating complex diseases like Parkinson's? To address this question, my group is developing novel statistical model, and also apply statistical genetics, functional genomics, and computational biology approaches to construct a brain-cell-spatial gene activity map, and then reveal novel therapeutic strategies of Parkinson’s disease by connecting brain-cell-spatial gene regulation insights with disease risk.
ORCID
0000-0003-2270-5194- View Lab Website
Scherzer's Lab
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Frequent collaborators of Zechuan Lin, PhD's published research.
Publications Timeline
A big-picture view of Zechuan Lin, PhD's research output by year.
Clemens Scherzer, MD
Xianjun Dong, PhD
23Publications
719Citations
Publications
Featured Publications
Single cell eQTL mapping reveals convergent glial–neuronal risk architecture in Parkinson's disease
Lin Z, Parker J, Nithianandam V, Mathivanan S, Wang T, Liao Z, Simmons SK, Tuncali I, Adiconis X, Haywood N, Weykopf B, Teng X, Sharma M, Yuan J, Baecher-Allan C, Dong X, Beach TG, Serrano GE, Levin JZ, Zhang S, Feany MB, Scherzer CR. Single cell eQTL mapping reveals convergent glial–neuronal risk architecture in Parkinson's disease. 2026 DOI: 10.64898/2026.04.24.720642.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2026
Multi-locus genetic dosage shapes cognitive disease progression in Parkinson’s patients: 15-year meta-analysis of 24 cohorts
Kang X, Lin Z, Calikusu F, Miller L, Soriano S, Locascio J, Corvol J, Maple-Grødem J, Fan Y, Mead K, Campbell M, Elbaz A, Lesage S, Brice A, Hung A, Schwarzschild M, Hayes M, Wills A, Herrington T, Liu G, Ravina B, Taba P, Kõks S, Simuni T, Forsgren L, Counsell C, Macleod A, Beach T, Alves G, Tysnes O, Perlmutter J, Heutink P, Kasten M, Mollenhauer B, Trenkwalder C, Klein C, Hepp D, Backstrom D, Svenningsson P, Hu M, Williams-Gray C, Barker R, Scherzer C. Multi-locus genetic dosage shapes cognitive disease progression in Parkinson’s patients: 15-year meta-analysis of 24 cohorts. Npj Parkinson's Disease 2026 PMID: 42135313, DOI: 10.1038/s41531-026-01367-y.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricExperimental and computational methods for allelic imbalance analysis from single-nucleus RNA-seq data
Simmons S, Adiconis X, Haywood N, Parker J, Lin Z, Liao Z, Tuncali I, Shin A, Jagadeesh K, Gosik K, Gatzen M, Smith J, El Kodsi D, Kuras Y, Baecher-Allan C, Serrano G, Beach T, Garimella K, Al’Khafaji A, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Regev A, Dong X, Scherzer C, Levin J. Experimental and computational methods for allelic imbalance analysis from single-nucleus RNA-seq data. Genome Biology 2026, 27: 167. PMID: 41965748, PMCID: PMC13185290, DOI: 10.1186/s13059-026-04062-6.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricIntegrating Long-Read Structural Variant Analysis with single-nucleus RNA-seq to Elucidate Gene Expression Effects in Disease.
Kim K, Lin Z, Simmons SK, Parker J, Kearney M, Liao Z, Haywood N, Zhang J, Cline MP, Tuncali I, Sharma M, Serrano GE, Beach TG, Dong X, Popic V, Scherzer CR, Levin JZ. Integrating Long-Read Structural Variant Analysis with single-nucleus RNA-seq to Elucidate Gene Expression Effects in Disease. BioRxiv 2026 PMID: 41929179, DOI: 10.64898/2026.03.20.713192.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2022
qHD5 encodes an AP2 factor that suppresses rice heading by down-regulating Ehd2 expression
Sun B, Xue P, Wen X, Gong K, Wang B, Xu P, Lin Z, Peng Z, Fu J, Yu P, Sun L, Zhang Y, Cao L, Cao L, Cheng S, Wu W, Zhan X. qHD5 encodes an AP2 factor that suppresses rice heading by down-regulating Ehd2 expression. Plant Science 2022, 324: 111446. PMID: 36041562, DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2022.111446.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsThe telomere‐to‐telomere gap‐free genome of four rice parents reveals SV and PAV patterns in hybrid rice breeding
Zhang Y, Fu J, Wang K, Han X, Yan T, Su Y, Li Y, Lin Z, Qin P, Fu C, Deng X, Zhou D, Yang Y, He H. The telomere‐to‐telomere gap‐free genome of four rice parents reveals SV and PAV patterns in hybrid rice breeding. Plant Biotechnology Journal 2022, 20: 1642-1644. PMID: 35748695, PMCID: PMC9398309, DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13880.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsTranscriptome profiling of two super hybrid rice provides insights into the genetic basis of heterosis
Fu J, Zhang Y, Yan T, Li Y, Jiang N, Zhou Y, Zhou Q, Qin P, Fu C, Lin H, Zhong J, Han X, Lin Z, Wang F, He H, Wang K, Yang Y. Transcriptome profiling of two super hybrid rice provides insights into the genetic basis of heterosis. BMC Plant Biology 2022, 22: 314. PMID: 35773646, PMCID: PMC9245205, DOI: 10.1186/s12870-022-03697-4.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricGenomic insights on the contribution of introgressions from Xian/Indica to the genetic improvement of Geng/Japonica rice cultivars
Cui D, Zhou H, Ma X, Lin Z, Sun L, Han B, Li M, Sun J, Liu J, Jin G, Wang X, Cao G, Deng X, He H, Han L. Genomic insights on the contribution of introgressions from Xian/Indica to the genetic improvement of Geng/Japonica rice cultivars. Plant Communications 2022, 3: 100325. PMID: 35576158, PMCID: PMC9251437, DOI: 10.1016/j.xplc.2022.100325.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords
2020
Genome-wide selection and genetic improvement during modern maize breeding
Wang B, Lin Z, Li X, Zhao Y, Zhao B, Wu G, Ma X, Wang H, Xie Y, Li Q, Song G, Kong D, Zheng Z, Wei H, Shen R, Wu H, Chen C, Meng Z, Wang T, Li Y, Li X, Chen Y, Lai J, Hufford M, Ross-Ibarra J, He H, Wang H. Genome-wide selection and genetic improvement during modern maize breeding. Nature Genetics 2020, 52: 565-571. PMID: 32341525, DOI: 10.1038/s41588-020-0616-3.Commentaries, Editorials and LettersCitationsAltmetricThe Asymmetric Expression of SAUR Genes Mediated by ARF7/19 Promotes the Gravitropism and Phototropism of Plant Hypocotyls
Wang X, Yu R, Wang J, Lin Z, Han X, Deng Z, Fan L, He H, Deng X, Chen H. The Asymmetric Expression of SAUR Genes Mediated by ARF7/19 Promotes the Gravitropism and Phototropism of Plant Hypocotyls. Cell Reports 2020, 31: 107529. PMID: 32320660, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107529.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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Honors
honor Resource-Limited Award
10/14/2025National AwardThe American Society for Human GeneticsDetailsUnited Stateshonor Research Grants Award
09/01/2025National AwardAmerican Parkinson Disease AssociationDetailsUnited Stateshonor Multi-omics Meta-analysis (MoMa) program
07/01/2025Other AwardAligning Science Across Parkinson's: ASAPDetailsUnited States
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101 College Street
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Fl 10, Ste 1029
New Haven, CT 06510