News and Events
EVENTS
Topic: Systematic Analysis of Differential Transcription Factor Binding to Non-Coding Variants in the Human Genome
Date: 01/02/2019
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Venue: Room 407-408, Li Ka Shing Medical Sciences Building, Prince of Wales Hospital
Category: Talks/Seminars
Details:

Speaker:
Dr. Jian Yan
Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical Sciences
City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
 

About the Speaker:
Dr Yan received his BSc (in biological sciences) at Tsinghua University and MSc (in biotechnology) at University of Helsinki. He continued his PhD study in Prof. Jussi Taipale’s lab at Karolinska Institutet, investigating molecular mechanism of transcriptional regulation in colorectal cancer cells. After obtaining PhD degree, Dr Yan moved to San Diego in 2015 to study 3D genome organization and gene regulation as a postdoc fellow with Prof. Bing Ren at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

After more than a decade of biological research training in Asia, Europe and America, he joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong as a tenure-track assistant professor in fall of 2018, focusing on (epi)genome function in development of complex human diseases using state-of-the-art genomics tools.

Abstract:
A large number of sequence variants have been linked to complex human traits and diseases, but deciphering their biological function remains a daunting challenge especially for the non-protein-coding variants. To fill this gap, Dr. Yan and his team have systematically assessed the differential binding of transcription factors (TF) to different alleles of non-coding variants in the human genome. Using an ultra-high throughput multiplex protein-DNA binding assay, they examined the binding of 270 human TFs to 95,886 common sequence variants within the 110 type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk loci. We then employed a machine-learning approach to derive computational models to predict differential DNA binding of 124 TFs to other common non-coding variants in the human genome. The team showed that the newly derived models outperformed current position-weight matrices (PWM) in describing TF binding to non-coding variants, and facilitated discovery of potential causal variants and dysregulated molecular pathways in human diseases.

CME Accreditation:

* One CME point for attendance approved by the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK). [ Activity No. 3608 ]

 

All are welcome.
For enquiries, please contact Mr Jonathan Lee at 3763 6005.