
Yang Lab | Recording & Decoding Cancer Evolution


Meet the Team

Email: dy2491@cumc.columbia.edu
Office: 705-B, William Black Building
Phone:
Dian Yang
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University
Dian completed his Ph.D. in cancer biology at Stanford University with Dr. Monte Winslow and Dr. Julien Sage. He was awarded the Denise Chan Outstanding Thesis Award for identifying the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of how small cell lung cancer adopting neuronal migration machineries to metastasize. He then did his postdoc with Dr. Jonathan Weissman at the Whitehead Institute and MIT and developed a CRISPR-based evolving lineage tracing mouse model. This new mouse model enabled him to continuously track how a tumor evolves from a single transformed cell into an aggressive tumor and spreads systemically at an unprecedented resolution. His work to date has integrated CRISPR technologies, single-cell genomics, in vivo cancer modeling and computational analysis, providing a new paradigm to study tumor evolution. Dian recently won a Damon Runyon Jake Wetchler Award and a Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists.

YOU !
We are a collaborative and interdisciplinary team aiming to dissect the fundamental mechanisms governing cancer evolution using genetically engineered mouse models. We are actively recruiting and welcome highly motivated individuals interested in the following areas:
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Cancer Biology: tumor evolution, cancer plasticity, therapy & resistance
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Technology development: CRISPR, molecular recording, genome engineering
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Single cell analysis: computational analysis of single cell and spatial transcriptomics
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Cancer modeling: next-gen mouse models of human cancer
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Cancer immunology: cancer - immune cell interactions & new therapeutic targets
Please check out our Open Position page for more details!