Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte

My lab aims to understand the fundamental principles of genome regulation. We are particularly interested in LLPS and single molecules.

[Nilimesh Das @NilimeshDa6026]

Transcription factor specificity isn’t encoded by DNA motifs alone. Live-cell single-molecule imaging shows that unstructured transcription factor interactions enable emergent specificity.

https://t.co/1ZEmwy0dng

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

I'll be speaking at Charlotte Regional Biomedical Sciences Symposium 2026: Collaborations Driving Innovations for Impact on Sep 14 - 14, 2026. I would love to see you there!🎉🎉
Register here: https://t.co/ZA1JIGfOGw
- via #Whova Event Platform
https://t.co/0V8tKmbxvT

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

Agree that there should be standard and criteria!

[Jason Locasale @LocasaleLab]

Academia cannot be reformed until the PhD has standards again.

The degree should be reserved for the relatively few candidates whose dissertations create important new knowledge - not awarded as a certificate of persistence to nearly everyone who remains in a program long enough.

A system with meaningful standards must permit meaningful failure. Candidates who are unlikely to make a substantial original contribution should be identified early, given a respectable off-ramp, and allowed to enter the job market years sooner.

This would reduce the oversupply of PhDs competing for a tiny number of academic positions and grants. With fewer people trapped in that cutthroat competition, academia would reward fewer of the behaviors produced by desperation and scarcity.

Companies accustomed to an abundant supply of PhD applicants would also have to recruit from the larger pool of capable people who left doctoral programs without the degree. The skills would remain valuable; only the credential would become scarce.

If the PhD once again signified exceptional scholarly, it would resolve many of academia’s current pathologies.

[Jason Locasale @LocasaleLab]

Academia cannot be reformed until the PhD has standards again.

The degree should be reserved for the relatively few candidates whose dissertations create important new knowledge - not awarded as a certificate of persistence to nearly everyone who remains in a program long enough.

A system with meaningful standards must permit meaningful failure. Candidates who are unlikely to make a substantial original contribution should be identified early, given a respectable off-ramp, and allowed to enter the job market years sooner.

This would reduce the oversupply of PhDs competing for a tiny number of academic positions and grants. With fewer people trapped in that cutthroat competition, academia would reward fewer of the behaviors produced by desperation and scarcity.

Companies accustomed to an abundant supply of PhD applicants would also have to recruit from the larger pool of capable people who left doctoral programs without the degree. The skills would remain valuable; only the credential would become scarce.

If the PhD once again signified exceptional scholarly, it would resolve many of academia’s current pathologies.

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

ErbB family receptor dimerization dynamics and dysregulation via long-term single-molecule imaging: Cell https://t.co/G56yz2AUGU

[UNC Biochemistry and Biophysics @UNC_BCBP]

“Spatial Organization of Epigenetic Information by Phase Separation” presented by Xiaojun (XJ) Ren, Ph.D. on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 – 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
1131 Bioinformatics Host: Jill Dowen
Join us for our last seminar of the Spring semester.

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

It is so nice to see our Molecular Cell paper is out today! Thanks for my students and collaborators. Without you, this is impossible. Thanks for all reviewers! Your constructive comments make the paper much better!!!

[Molecular Cell @MolecularCell]

Online Now: Self-clustering of three CBX2 molecules drives PRC2 to promote facultative heterochromatinization of Polycomb target genes https://t.co/YHi8dr6Lmg

[Andy Truman PhD @TrumanLab]

New article about our research: https://t.co/0HyQP5veNX

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

@TrumanLab @NatureComms @UNCCBiology @unccharlotte Congrats! Nice work!

[Molecular Cell @MolecularCell]

Transcriptome-wide mRNP condensation precedes stress granule formation and excludes new mRNAs https://t.co/DxC7r21pP8

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

Multiscale structure of chromatin condensates explains phase separation and material properties | Science https://t.co/Wlfx2ywhHn

[Huaiying Zhang @lab_zhang]

Happy to see this coming out at JCB!

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

@dan_gard @ChancellorGaber @unccharlotte @UNCCBiology @TrumanLab Congrats

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

@cxiong30 Thanks!

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

Excited to have this powerful single-molecule microscopy installed. Exciting discoveries will come soon……

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

@TrumanLab @UNCCBiology @unccharlotte Congrats

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

We are pleased to announce the Inaugural 2025 Carolina Symposium on Genome Integrity and Chromatin Regulation on June 11, 2025 @unccharlotte

Free registration, abstract for talk/poster:
https://t.co/ZZpqYeSmg1

[Xiaojun Ren Group at UNC Charlotte @XR_Lab]

Cryo-EM reveals mechanisms of natural RNA multivalency | Science https://t.co/X1w1cUylwP

[Ning Zhao @NingInScience]

Imaging single endogenous RNA in live cells comes true!

[Robert Aboukhalil @RobAboukhalil]

Really excited to unveil https://t.co/3DKXXBuxFD, an interactive playground for learning bioinformatics command-line tools like bedtools, bowtie2, and samtools (and more to come!) 🧑‍💻 🧬

Thanks to @aaronquinlan, @BenLangmead, and @mike_schatz for feedback and tutorial ideas.