Hi, there!

This is Yang, coming from Beijing, China. I feel very fortunate that I am still on the career path to realizing my childhood dream, which is to become a scientist. I can vividly remember the summer days I spent, 25 years ago, collecting all kinds of insects. This made me always curious about nature since I was a child.

I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery & Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis. Prior to joining WUSM, I am a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Bing Ren’s laboratory, at UC San Diego. In July 2018, I got my PhD Degree from School of Life Science, Tsinghua Univeristy under the supervision of Prof. Zhi John Lu. In July 2013, I got my Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences and Laws at Sichuan Univeristy.

Research Focus

My long-term research interest is to develop computational methods and pipelines for a comprehensive understanding of gene regulation in the context of mammalian models and human diseases.

I have strong scientific background across evolutionary biology, genome biology, computational biology. I have studied the interaction between RNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and its regulatory mechanism, epigenetic reprogramming of liver metastasis in colorectal cancer, and especially my recent comprehensive analysis of gene regulatory programs in the mouse brain from single-cell epigenetic datasets, which assist in interpreting noncoding risk variants that contribute to various neurological diseases and traits in humans. During my postdoctoral training in Ren lab, I have got excellent training in neurobiology and made valuable contributions to the NIH’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative - Cell Census Network (BICCN). I am further leading an effort to understand the gene regulatory programs in the human brain and diverse neurological disorders.

Research Experience

As an undergraduate, I conducted research with Dr. Jia-tang Li to understand how genomic sequences drive the evolution and adaptation of various species, especially amphibians. Having been fascinated by the development of genomics, I joined the bioinformatics Ph.D. program at Tsinghua University to learn quantitative skills and genomics approaches. During my Ph.D. training with Dr. Zhi John Lu, I had extensive experience with developing computational tools for analyzing high-throughput sequencing data, to study the interactions between RNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and their regulatory mechanism. In collaboration with Dr. Dong Wang, I performed a comprehensive analysis to understand the epigenetic reprogramming of liver metastasis in colorectal cancer. During this period, I have learned multiple techniques spanning post-transcriptional regulation, cancer biology, and epigenetics. In the past three years as a postdoc in Dr. Bing Ren’s lab, I further honed my computational skills, and gained tremendous knowledge and experience in single-cell genomics. Moreover, I got excellent training in neurobiology from the NIH’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative - Cell Census Network (BICCN).

Professional Service

1. Coordinating Editor for Biochemical Genetics (2020-2022).
2. Reviewing for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

For more info

More info about me can be found in google scholar.