Rate My Professor Qiumin Tan

Qiumin Tan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, holding the Canada Research Chair Tier II in Neurodevelopmental Disorders. She earned a B.Sc. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and a Ph.D. from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, USA. Tan transitioned from studying plant metabolites during her graduate work to neurobiology during her postdoctoral fellowship and associate position at Baylor College of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Houston, Texas, USA, where she investigated mechanisms of spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 and CIC-related neurodevelopmental disorders. She joined the University of Alberta as Assistant Professor in April 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in July 2023.

Tan's research centers on brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders, using the hippocampus as a model to study how diverse cell types are produced, maintained, eliminated, and integrated into brain circuits. Key areas include early postnatal and adult hippocampal neurogenesis, regulation of neuronal migration and dendritic architecture, precise axonal projections of newborn neurons, and the developmental cell death and adult roles of hippocampal Cajal-Retzius cells, with implications for epilepsy and other neurological disorders. Her lab has developed strategies for genetic manipulation of Cajal-Retzius cells in adult mice. Tan's contributions include high-impact publications such as "Disruption of the ATXN1–CIC complex causes a spectrum of neurobehavioral phenotypes in mice and humans" (Nature Genetics, 2017; co-first author), "ATXN1-CIC Complex Is the Primary Driver of Cerebellar Pathology in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 through a Gain-of-Function Mechanism" (Neuron, 2018), "Mouse models as a tool for discovering new neurological diseases" (Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2019; co-corresponding author), "Capicua regulates the survival of Cajal-Retzius cells in the postnatal hippocampus" (Cell Death & Disease, 2025), and "Loss of NFIA Impairs Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis" (Hippocampus, 2025). Her work has advanced understanding of molecular mechanisms in neurodevelopmental diseases.