This is Ming, currently working as a post-doc in UW, specializing in computational biology and bioinformatics.
I am extremely interested in studying the genetic basis of complex traits, especially aging and age-related disease. My research focuses on understanding aging with a systems biology approach, including asynchronous aging of different tissues and network dynamics during aging. I combine high-dimensional molecular profiles and observational phenotypic data to explore the process of aging at multiple scales.
My research background includes six years of professional training in population genetics, genomics and bioinformatics, and four years of postdoctoral research in single-cell transcriptomics and aging. My recent projects have included:
1) using fruit fly as an Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) disease model to identify genetic factors that influence AD pathogenicity
In this project, I developed a bioinformatic pipeline written in R to process thousands of fly eye images and quantify the degree of eye degeneration. The output measurements were fed into a downstream Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) analysis. I implemented a workflow of Bash and Perl scripts to perform parallel computing in the UW Hyak Next Generation Supercomputer system to calculate gene-specific significance level and identify candidate genes associated with AD pathogenicity.
2) network analysis of single-cell transcriptomics to study common molecular functions
In this project, I developed a method implemented in R to calculate cell type-specific gene co-expression networks with single-cell RNA-seq data and investigated the commonality and specificity of co-expressed genes across cell types at the whole organism level.
3) using Tabula Muris Senis (mouse atlas data) to study the dynamics of gene expression variability with age in various cell types.
In this project, I analyzed how gene expression variability changes with age. I developed a method using linear mixed models to measure transcriptome variability dynamics in aging and investigate how such dynamics depend on cell type identities.
I have extensive experience in population genomics, comparative transcriptomics, statistical modeling, and computer simulations. My background across various areas of biology provides me with an interdisciplinary perspective and the ability to think through problems creatively. I am not only inspired by new techniques and theories in various areas, such as mathematics, statistics and computer science, but also keen to apply them to my own research. I have been committed to looking into areas not only within but also outside my research area, and trying multiple solutions to my research problems.
Education
- B.S. in Biological Science and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, China, 2011
- Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sun Yat-sen University, China, 2017
- Postdoctoral Fellow in University of Washington, USA, current