Dr. Ruijun Tian is a tenured professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). He serves as the associate dean of the Guangming Advanced Research Institute of SUSTech, director of the Research Center for Chemical Biology and Omics Analysis. He received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. In 2008, Dr. Tian obtained his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Professor Hanfa Zou. In the same year, he joined the Institute for Systems Biology in Ottawa, Canada, for postdoctoral research under the supervision of Professor Daniel Figeys. In 2010, he continued his postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital in Canada, under the guidance of Professor Tony Pawson, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2014, he was appointed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at SUSTech and was promoted to a tenured Full Professor in 2020. His research focuses on proteomics related method development, as well as their applications in biomedical fields such as cell signaling and tumor microenvironment. He has published over a hundred papers in internationally renowned academic journals, including Nature, Nat. Commun., PNAS, Mol. Cell. Proteomics, Anal. Chem. Dr. Tian serves as an editorial board member for Chinese Journal of Chromatography, and guest editor for Current Opinion in Chemical Biology.

Honors and Awards:

National Nature Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2021)

Outstanding Young Investigator of Guangdong Province (2019)

Pengcheng Scholar Distinguished Professorship (2019)

Peacock Program Awardee from Shenzhen Government (2014)

2012 Young Investigator Award, International Association for Protein Structure Analysis and Proteomics (IAPSAP)

Selected Publications:

Invited reviews:

1. P. W. Huang,‡ W. N. Gao,‡ C. Y. Fu,‡ R. J. Tian,* Functional and clinical proteomic exploration of pancreatic cancer, Mol. Cell. Proteomics, 2023, Accepted. (Invited Reviews)

2. Z. Y. Liu,‡ X. Chen,‡ S. R. Yang, R. J. Tian,* F. J. Wang,* Integrated mass spectrometry strategy for functional protein complex discovery and structural characterization, Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 2023, Accepted. (Invited Reviews)

3. Y. H. Mao, X. Wang, P. W. Huang, R. J. Tian,* Spatial proteomics for understanding the tissue microenvironment, Analyst, 2021, 146, 3777-3798. (Invited Reviews)

4. J. N. Zheng,‡ X. Chen,‡ Y. Yang, C. S. H. Tan, R. J. Tian,* Mass spectrometry-based protein complex profiling in time and space, Anal. Chem., 2021, 93, 598–619. (Invited Reviews)

5. X. T. Ye,‡ J. Tang,‡ Y. H. Mao,‡ X. Lu, Y. Yang, W. D. Chen, X. Y. Zhang, R. L. Xu, R. J. Tian,* Integrated proteomics sample preparation and fractionation: method development and applications, TrAC Trends Anal. Chem., 2019, 120, 115667. (Highlighted as Front Cover)

6. R. J. Tian,* Exploring intercellular signaling by proteomic approaches, Proteomics, 2014, 14(4-5):498-512. (Invited Reviews)

Research articles:

1. X. Chen,‡ S. P. Ji,‡ Z. Y. Liu, X. Yuan, C. S. Xu, R. X. Qi, A. He, H. Zhao, H. P. Song, C. L. Xiao, W. N. Gao, P. Chen, R. Luo, P. F. Li,* F. J. Wang,* X. M. Yang, R. J. Tian,* Motif-dependent immune co-receptor interactome profiling by photoaffinity chemical proteomics, Cell Chem. Biol., 2022, 29, 1024-1036.

2. M. Ke,‡ X. Yuan,‡ A. He, P.Y. Yu, W.D. Chen, Y. Shi, T. Hunter, P. Zou, R. J. Tian,* Spatiotemporal Profiling of Cytosolic Signaling Complexes in Living Cells by Selective Proximity Proteomics, Nat. Commun., 2021, 12, 71.

3. Y. Shi,* W. N. Gao, N. K. Lytle, P. W. Huang, X. Yuan, A. M. Dann, M. Ridinger, K. E. DelGiorno, G. Erikson, H. Y. Sun, J. Meisenhelder, E. Terenziani, P. Santisakultarm, U. Manor, R. L. Xu, M. Leblanc, S. E. Umetsu, E. A. Collisson, A. M. Lowy, T. Reya, T. R. Donahue, M. Downes, G. M. Wahl, R. M. Evans, T. Pawson, R. J. Tian,* T. Hunter,* Targeting LIF-mediated paracrine interaction for pancreatic cancer therapy and monitoring, Nature, 2019, 569, 131-135.

4. B. Z. Chu,‡ A. He,‡ Y. T. Tian, W. He, P. Z. Chen, J. T. Hu, R. L. Xu, W. B. Zhou, M. J. Zhang, P. Y. Yang, S. S. C. Li, Y. Sun,* P. F. Li,* T. Hunter, R. J. Tian,* Photoaffinity-engineered protein scaffold for systematically exploring Native phosphotyrosine signaling complexes in tumor samples. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2018, 115, E8863-E8872.

5. R. J. Tian,*‡ H. P. Wang,‡ G. D. Gish, E. Petsalaki, A. Pasculescu, Y. Shi, M. Mollenauer, R. D. Bagshaw, N. Yosef, T. Hunter, A. Gingras, A. Weiss,* T. Pawson, A combinatorial proteomic analysis of intercellular signaling applied to the CD28 T cell co-stimulatory receptor, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. , 2015, 112, E1594–E1603.

6. Q. Kong,‡ M. Ke,‡ Y. C. Weng, Y. Q. Qin, A. He, P. F. Li,* Z. W. Cai,* R. J. Tian,* Dynamic phosphotyrosine-dependent signaling profiling in living cells by two-dimensional proximity proteomics, J. Proteome Res., 2022, 21, 2727–2735.

7. Q. Kong,‡ Y. C. Weng,‡ Z. D. Zheng, W. D. Chen, P. F. Li,* Z. W. Cai,* R. J. Tian,* Integrated and high-throughput approach for sensitive analysis of tyrosine phosphoproteome, Anal. Chem., 2022, 94, 40, 13728–13736.

8. Y. H. Mao,‡ P. Z. Chen,‡ M. Ke, X. Chen, S. P. Ji, W. D. Chen, R. J. Tian,* Fully integrated and multiplexed sample preparation technology for sensitive interactome profiling, Anal. Chem., 2021, 93, 5, 3026–3034.

9. P. W. Huang, Q. Kong, W. N. Gao, B. Z. Chu, H. Li, Y. H. Mao, Z. W. Cai, R. L. Xu, R. J. Tian,* Spatial proteome profiling by immunohistochemistry-based laser capture microdissection and data-independent acquisition proteomics, Anal. Chim. Acta, 2020, 1127, 140-148.

10. Q. Kong,‡ P. W. Huang,‡ B. Z. Chu, M. Ke, W. D. Chen, Z. D. Zheng, S. P. Ji, Z. W. Cai, P. F. Li, and R. J. Tian,* High-throughput and integrated chemical proteomic approach for profiling phosphotyrosine signaling complexes, Anal. Chem., 2020, 92, 8933-8942.

11. X. Lu,‡ Z. K. Wang,‡ Y. Gao, W. D. Chen, L. J. Wang, P. W. Huang, W. N. Gao, M. Ke, A. He, and R. J. Tian,* Autoproteome chip system for fully automated and integrated proteomics sample preparation and peptide fractionation, Anal. Chem., 2020, 92, 8893-8900.

12. P. W. Huang, H. J. Li, W. N. Gao, Z. W. Cai,* R. J. Tian,* A fully integrated spintip-based approach for sensitive and quantitative profiling of region-resolved in vivo brain glycoproteome, Anal. Chem., 2019, 91, 9181-9189.

13. R. L. Xu,‡ J. Tang,‡ Q. T. Deng, W. He, X. J. Sun, L. Xia, Z. Q. Cheng, L. S. He, S. Y. You, J. T. Hu, Y. X. Fu, J. Zhu, Y. X. Chen, W. N. Gao, A. He, Z. Y. Guo, L. Lin, H. Li, C. F. Hu, R. J. Tian,* Spatial-resolution cell type proteome profiling of cancer tissue by fully integrated proteomics technology, Anal. Chem., 2018, 90, 5879−5886.

14. W. D. Chen, S. Wang, S. Adhikari, Z. H. Deng, L. J. Wang, L. Chen, M. Ke, P. Y. Yang, R. J. Tian,* Simple and integrated spintip-based technology applied for deep proteome profiling, Anal. Chem., 2016, 88, 4864-4871.