Experiences

Postdoctoral Scholar (with Jimmie Ye, Ph.D.)

Graduate Student Research Assistant (with Han Liang, Ph.D.)

1. Established a first-of-its-kind single-cell transcriptomic atlas of gastric tumors under anti-PD1 treatment to reveal novel TME mechanisms underlying disease progression and therapeutic responses. 

2. Led the first intra-ILC3 single-cell transcriptomic analysis to connect intestinal ILC3 state shift with aging in a mouse model. 

3. Mined and integrated public bulk and single-cell RNA-seq datasets to reveal an anti-mainstream melanoma-intrinsic pro-anti-PD1-therapy role of a star receptor, SIRPA.

4. Built a hybrid convolutional and recurrent neural network to detect the binding signals of human host RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 on the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

gRED Bioinformatics Intern (with Meena Choi, Ph.D. and Ying Zhu, Ph.D.)

1. Led the development of an end-to-end spatial single-cell proteomics pipeline linking mass-spectrometry-based global proteomics and whole-slide-imaging-based tissue physiology and pathology.

2. Created a Shiny app facilitating in-depth integrative analysis of overlayed spatial proteomics and tissue images to delineate complex tissue architectures at the single-cell whole-proteome scale.

Visiting Scientist (remote, with Qinglei Gao, M.D., Ph.D.)

Led the discovery of effector Tregs as a dominant immunosuppressive force balancing out tumor-reactive T cells in high-grade serous ovarian cancer genome instability through single-cell multi-omic profiling of human tumors under neoadjuvant PARPi in a phase II clinical trial. Validated in multiple humanized orthotopic mouse tumor models as an effective target by a humanized therapeutic antibody, an eTreg marker was nominated to be tested in a new phase II clinical trial (in collaboration with the Liang Lab).

Visiting Undergraduate Student (with Hani Goodarzi, Ph.D.)

1. Constructed an RNA binding protein (RBP) network that modulates tRNA fragments biogenesis, by combining information-theoretic network inference and CRISPRi-based loss-of-function experimental assays.

2. Led the efforts in mapping aberrant post-transcriptional regulatory events in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer progression through integrative analysis of a large-scale patient cohort dataset in collaboration with the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) Prostate Dream Team.

3. Devised a deep neural network to model small-molecule-induced gene perturbation effect in cancer cell lines by engineering baseline gene expression data and 3D molecule signatures into a shared feature space.

Summer Research Undergraduate Student (with Coleen Murphy, Ph.D.)

Investigated the role of transcription factor PQM-1 in regulating hypoxia resistance in C. elegans via the interplay between reproduction, fat metabolism, and aging.

Summer School Program (Department of Biochemistry)

Enrolled in Advanced Biochemistry - DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis; Letter grade: A

Undergraduate Student Research Assistant

1. Built a genetic and epigenetic roadmap of YAP-induced reprogramming of mouse hepatocytes through the combination of single-cell RNA-seq, low-cell-number ChIP-seq, and DNA methylation-seq (with Bin Zhao, Ph.D.).

2. Elucidated the effect of transcription factor CFP1 on mice macrophage phagocytosis (with Lie Wang, Ph.D.).