LIANG

My long-term research goal is to develop statistical and computational methods to discover the underlying principles of gene expression regulation in eukaryotes, and to explore how variations or defects in gene regulation cause phenotypic variation or diseases. How a cell controls its gene expression is one of the most fundamental and interesting questions in various biological processes, from intrinsic developmental programs to responses to extrinsic stimuli. Meanwhile, a large majority of genetic variants reported in the genome-wide association studies of common human diseases lies in introns or intergenic regions, suggesting their roles in gene expression regulation instead of protein coding. Thus, it is not surprising that gene expression is tightly regulated and coordinated at multiple levels. At the transcriptional level, the interactions between transcription factors and DNA binding motifs play pivotal roles in transcription initiation. So do epigenetic effects, including..