About the PI |
Yarui received his B.Sc. in Biotechnology (2006) from Nanjing University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry (2011) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). As a graduate student in Dr. Zhenguo Wu's lab, he investigated the transcriptional regulation and signaling transduction pathways controlling the proliferation and differentiation of muscle stem cell and rhabdomyosarcoma. His PhD work led to first authored publications in Mol Cell Biol (2009), PNAS (2010), Cell Stem Cell (2012), JBC (2014), and Dev Cell (2017). These studies revealed how the master transcription factor Pax7 acts on cis-regulatory sequence (e.g. enhancer) to control stem cell expansion and cell fate plasticity. Despite the crucial functions of cis-regulatory elements in biology and disease, however, it was a long-standing and challenging problem to precisely identify them in the genome. It was even harder to functionally characterize them, particularly in the native chromatin context in a high-throughput manner.
To tackle this problem, for postdoc training, Yarui made a bold decision to switch his research filed from stem cell to functional genomics, and joined Dr. Bing Ren’s group, a lab well known for using cutting-edge genomics technology to study non-coding cis-regulatory elements. Being supported by the prestigious Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) long-term postdoctoral fellowship, he led a project to develop high-throughput CRISPR/Cas9 screen strategies that allow for genome-wide functional characterization of non-coding regulatory sequence in the native chromatin context (Diao et al. 2016, Genome Res; Diao et al. 2017, Nat Methods). His work laid the foundations to launch one of the ENCODE4 functional characterization centers, and demonstrated that many gene promoters act as distal enhancers, which challenged the traditional concept that promoter and enhancer are distinct regulatory elements (highlighted by Nat Genet, 2017). He has also made a major contribution to map the long-range chromatin interactions in 27 human cell and primary tissue types, to provide a comprehensive, tissue specific, and three-dimensional cis-regulatory landscape to interpret the regulatory target genes of cis-acting elements and genetic variants associated with human diseases and traits (Jung*, Schmitt*, Diao* et al, Nat Genet).
Yarui also has long-standing interests in understanding the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of tumorigenesis. At Ludwig Cancer Research Institute and UC San Diego, he has been collaborating with Dr. Paul Mischel’s group to study the role of chromatin modifiers in glioblastoma progression, and working with Dr. Kun-Liang Guan's group to investigate the epigenetic mechanism of nutrition and cell matrix stiffness controlled tumor growth. Thanks to the training in his PhD and postdoc, Yarui is scientifically "bilingual" -- fluent in the languages of cell biology as well as functional genomics. He started his laboratory as an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in the Department of Cell Biology at Duke, where his lab will integrate the powerful genomic and genetic tools with muscle stem cell and sarcoma cellular and animal models, to understand the fundamental gene regulation mechanism in tissue regeneration and tumorigenesis.
Outside the lab, Yarui is a big fan of photography (aka photo gears). He has been shooting with Nikon D700, D800, D3x, D4, Sony RX1, and Leica Q. His favorite photography theme is his two lovely daughters.
To tackle this problem, for postdoc training, Yarui made a bold decision to switch his research filed from stem cell to functional genomics, and joined Dr. Bing Ren’s group, a lab well known for using cutting-edge genomics technology to study non-coding cis-regulatory elements. Being supported by the prestigious Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) long-term postdoctoral fellowship, he led a project to develop high-throughput CRISPR/Cas9 screen strategies that allow for genome-wide functional characterization of non-coding regulatory sequence in the native chromatin context (Diao et al. 2016, Genome Res; Diao et al. 2017, Nat Methods). His work laid the foundations to launch one of the ENCODE4 functional characterization centers, and demonstrated that many gene promoters act as distal enhancers, which challenged the traditional concept that promoter and enhancer are distinct regulatory elements (highlighted by Nat Genet, 2017). He has also made a major contribution to map the long-range chromatin interactions in 27 human cell and primary tissue types, to provide a comprehensive, tissue specific, and three-dimensional cis-regulatory landscape to interpret the regulatory target genes of cis-acting elements and genetic variants associated with human diseases and traits (Jung*, Schmitt*, Diao* et al, Nat Genet).
Yarui also has long-standing interests in understanding the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of tumorigenesis. At Ludwig Cancer Research Institute and UC San Diego, he has been collaborating with Dr. Paul Mischel’s group to study the role of chromatin modifiers in glioblastoma progression, and working with Dr. Kun-Liang Guan's group to investigate the epigenetic mechanism of nutrition and cell matrix stiffness controlled tumor growth. Thanks to the training in his PhD and postdoc, Yarui is scientifically "bilingual" -- fluent in the languages of cell biology as well as functional genomics. He started his laboratory as an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in the Department of Cell Biology at Duke, where his lab will integrate the powerful genomic and genetic tools with muscle stem cell and sarcoma cellular and animal models, to understand the fundamental gene regulation mechanism in tissue regeneration and tumorigenesis.
Outside the lab, Yarui is a big fan of photography (aka photo gears). He has been shooting with Nikon D700, D800, D3x, D4, Sony RX1, and Leica Q. His favorite photography theme is his two lovely daughters.