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Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD

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Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD

Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research, Professor of Genetics and, by courtesy, of Pathology

Knight Initiative Affiliated Researchers, Wu Tsai Neuro Faculty Affiliates


I am a physician-scientist who has trained in genome science. My research has focused on mechanisms that coordinate the activities of large number of genes in cell fate control. We made a series of discoveries that introduced the important and pervasive roles of long noncoding RNAs in biological regulation. My group has substantial experience in epigenetics and RNA biology, including invention of new methods for epigenomic profiling, map RNA occupancy on chromatin, and define RNA structures genome-wide. My group pioneered methods to identify key regulators of large-scale transcriptional programs; these methods have been highly fruitful for studies of development, cancer, and aging. The long term goal of my laboratory is to decipher the regulatory information in the human genome for disease diagnosis and therapy.