PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
DR. XUANYAO LIU
Xuanyao Liu is an assistant professor at the section of genetic medicine and in the department of human genetics. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Computational Biology from the National University of Singapore (NUS). She later earned a PhD degree in population genetics from NUS and trained as a postdoctoral fellow in Alkes Price’s group at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on solving problems in complex trait genetics with statistical methods and genomics data. Outside the lab and classroom, she enjoys traveling, climbing, taking care of plants, cooking and being a mom of human and fur kiddos.
CURRENT LAB MEMBERS
Jinghui Li
Postdoctoral Fellow; 2023 -
Jinghui is trained in animal genetics and quantitative genetics. He obtained his PhD’s degree in Animal Biology and Master’s degree in Statistics at UC Davis. He enjoys doing research in quantitative and computational genetics. Now he is working on trans-regulation mechanisms.
Kaushik Renganaath
Postdoctoral Fellow; 2024 -
Kaushi got his PhD from the University of Minnesota where he was advised by Frank Albert. Previously, he obtained integrated Master’s degree from Birla institute of Technology and science, Pilani in India, in Dr. Lars Steinmetz’s lab at EMBL, Heidelberg. He is a computational biologist with a strong foundation in genomics and cellular physiology. His big interest is in using data driven methods to address key challenges in genetics research and biology education. His specific research interest is in integrating diverse types of biological data towards understanding the gene networks or pathways underlying complex human diseases. He is currently working on leveraging trans regulatory networks to understand the biological pathways implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.
Qilong Tan
Postdoctoral Fellow; 2025-
Qilong is primarily interested in…
Hao Yu
Graduate Student, GGSB 2024 -
Hao Yu is a PhD student in the GGSB program. Hao earned a M.S. in computer science at UChicago and a B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Hong Kong. Hao is interested in applying computational technologies such as deep learning to solve biological problems. Outside the lab, he enjoys riding, jogging and playing video games.
Zining Qi
Graduate Student, GGSB 2024 -
Zining is a PhD student in the GGSB program. Zining obtained a Master’s degree in Biostatistics at the Columbia University. She is interested in developing and applying statistical methods to understand biological problem, such as trans gene regulation. Outside work, she enjoys watching movies and playing badminton.
Jiaming Liu
Research Assistant; 2024 -
MS student in statistics at University of Chicago. Love for photography, calligraphy, and Chinese poetries.
Marcus Chandra
Research Assistant; 2024 -
Marcus is an undergraduate student at UChicago. His primary research interests are in understanding genetics of major depression disorders with statistical tools and genomic data.
LAB ALUMNI
Dr. Marie Saitou
Postdoctoral Scholar, 2020-2021
Marie is now a tenure-track faculty at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Nikita Babushkin
Researcher, 2020-2023
Nikita started his graduate studies at UChicago in 2023!
Lili Wang
Graduate Student, 2019-2024
Lili is a graduate student in the Genetics,Genomics and System Biology (GGSB) program. Lili has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Statistics. She is working on statistical methods that help us detect and understand trans gene regulation. Outside work, she enjoys drawing, strolling, and watching detective & mystery movies and novels. Lili graduated in December 2024!