Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Sheng-Jia Lin, PH.D.

Sheng-Jia Lin, PH.D.

BIOGRAPHY

Sheng-Jia Lin is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Utah Tech University with more than a decade of experience teaching biochemistry, histology, and molecular/cell biology. Lin’s research integrates zebrafish genetics, CRISPR/Cas9 editing, functional genomics, and organoid models to explore the molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders and hearing loss.

Education

Postdoctoral Scientist

  • Genes & Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, USA, 2025

Ph.D., Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology

  • Chang Gung University, Taiwan, 2017

M.S., Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology

  • Chang Gung University, Taiwan, 2011

B.S., Bioscience Technology

  • Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan, 2009

Courses

  • BTEC 2010 - DNA Methods and Analysis
  • BTEC 2050 - Zebrafish Maintenance and Methodology
  • BIOL 3030 - Principles of Genetics
  • BIOL 4810R - Independent Research

RESEARCH & INTERESTS

  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Hearing Loss
  • CRISPR-based Functional Genomics
  • Variant Science
  • Organoid Models

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS

  • W Qin, SJ Lin, et al. (2026) High-efficiency TadA cytosine base editors for precise modelling of human disease variants. Nature Biomedical Engineering.
  • W Qin, SJ Lin, et al. (2025) Rationally Designed TadA‐Derived Cytosine Editors Enable Context‐Independent Zebrafish Genome Editing. Advanced Science.
  • D Owrang, A Rad, C Cretu, SJ Lin, et al. (2025). Uncovering dual molecular diagnoses in families with complex phenotypes through structural and clinical studies of novel COL4A6 variants. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine.
  • S Efthymiou, CP Leo, C Deng, SJ Lin et al. (2025). Bi-allelic pathogenic variants in TRMT1 disrupt tRNA modification and induce a neurodevelopmental disorder. The American Journal of Human Genetics.
  • SJ Lin, et al. (2025). Optimizing gRNA selection for high-penetrance F0 CRISPR screening for interrogating disease gene function. Nucleic Acids Research.
  • E Banks, V Francis, SJ Lin et al. (2024) Loss of symmetric cell division of apical neural progenitors drives DENND5A-related developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. Nature communications
  • SJ Lin, et al. (2023). Evaluating the association of biallelic OGDHL variants with significant phenotypic heterogeneity. Genome Medicine.
  • SJ Lin, et al. (2022). Biallelic variants in WARS1 cause a highly variable neurodevelopmental syndrome and implicate a critical exon for normal auditory function. Human Mutation.
  • SJ Lin, et al. (2021). Biallelic variants in KARS1 associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and hearing loss recapitulated by knockout zebrafish. Genetics in Medicine.
  • Full publications can be found in ORCID, ResearchGate or Google Scholar.

PRESENTATIONS

  • Annual Meeting, American Society of Human Genetics
  • Scientific Retreat, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
  • Midwinter Meeting, Association for Research in Otolaryngology

AWARDS & HONORS

  • Faculty Research Grant, Utah Tech University (2026)
  • OMRF Postdoc Travel Awards (2020, 2022, 2023)
  • Best OMRF Postdoc Paper of 2022 (awarded 2023)
  • Murphy Award, MDI Biological Laboratory (2022)
  • Reviewers’ Choice Award, American Society of Human Genetics (2021)
  • Honor member of the Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society (2018)

Contact

Sheng-Jia Lin

Assistant Professor of Biology – Functional Genomics

Email: sheng-jia.lin@utahtech.edu

Phone: 435-879-4828

Office: SET 513