Prof Yijun Ruan
Director of Genome Sciences; Professor
My primary interest is to elucidate the structures and dynamics of all functional DNA elements in complex genomes through DNA sequencing analysis of genetic variations in genomes and transcriptomes. To facilitate such understanding, my lab and I contribute to the technology development for high-throughput DNA sequencing and mapping methodologies, including the paired-end-tag (PET) sequencing strategy for RNA-PET/Seq, ChIP-PET/Seq, DNA-PET and ChIA-PET analysis. We are applying these sequencing-based methodologies to address complex genetic questions between normal versus disease states. A specific interest is to apply ChIA-PET and related methodologies to understand the three-dimensional (3-D) higher-order structures of chromosomal folding conformation and their impact on nuclear processes, such as gene transcription regulation and DNA replication.