Research

Last update: September 11, 2009

Lab Personnel

• Kajia Cao (Postdoc)
• Paul Ryvkin (GCB graduate student)
• Miryung Han (GCB graduate student)
• Otto Valladares (Research associate)
• Yih-Chii Huang (GCB graduate rotation)
• Fan Li (GCB graduate rotation)
• Avinash Maganty (Undergraduate researcher)

Past Members

• Steve Hershman (Undergraduate researcher; now at Harvard Systematic Biology Ph.D. Program)
• Sameer Soi (GCB graduate rotation)
• Srujan Peddapaidi (Undergraduate researcher)
• Shu-Kai Chang (Research associate; now at Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
• Aleah Fox (GCB graduate rotation)
• Serena Dollive (GCB graduate rotation)
• Xin Chen (Undergraduate researcher, graduated)
• Rahul Venkateshwara (Undergraduate researcher)

Main Collaborators

• Brad Johnson (genomics and bioinformatics for aging and senescence)
• Carolyn Felix (gene expression in infant leukemia)
• Maja Bucan (GWAS on autism, bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric disorders)
• Mingyao Li (GWAS methodology)
• Gerard Schellenberg (GWAS on Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders)
• Brian Gregory (RNA sequencing)

Research Opportunities

Postdoctoral Researcher

I am seeking applications for a postdoctoral position in my lab. Candidates may cover one or more of the following areas: algorithms, phylogenetics, statistics, and genomics. Currently my lab focuses on the following three areas:

1. Developing novel computational/statistical methods for phylogenetics and genome-wide association studies;
2. Bioinformatics and genomics for aging and neurodegenerative diseases;
3. Bioinformatic approaches for RNA-seq studies.

The candidate should have a Ph.D. degree in computer science, statistics, bioinformatics, or related quantitative fields, or at least two years of programming experience in any bioinformatics-related areas. Applicants should submit CV, two representative publications in PDF format, and a list of at least three potential recommendations with contact information by email to lswang@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Graduate and undergraduate students

If you are interested in rotation, independent study, thesis, or research projects, please contact me for appointments, so I can learn more about your interests and discuss possible research topics with you.

I am looking for students who are interested in the following topics:

1. Application of computational phylogenetics to cancer and other biomedical research topics.
2. Modeling and analysis of aging-related gene expression regulation.

Here are a list of my current topics:

1. Bioinformatics of gene expression modulation in aging
2. Novel computational methods for genome-wide association studies.
3. Novel computational methods for phylogenetics.
4. Analysis of novel genomic functional motifs such as G-quadruplexes.
5. Bioinformatic approaches for next generation sequencing technologies and their applications in medical research.

The projects will require some programming skills, some basic concepts of biology and likely some mathematics and statistics. You will also have opportunities to collaborate with experimental biomedical researchers.

Prospective applicants to PhD programs

please check the GCB program website for more information.