EPIGENETICS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
Decoding epigenetics in health and disease
All our biological information — the instructions that make us who we are — is encoded in our genes. We get half of our genetic information from our father and half from our mother and, together, this information results in us. But our genes don’t act alone — there is another layer of control that regulates when the instructions in genes are acted upon and when they are not. This extra layer is epigenetics.
Here’s how it works: Essentially every cell in the human body — all 37 trillion of them — has the same set of instructions (that is, the same DNA). But not all the instructions are needed in the same cells at the same time. For example, a heart muscle cell only needs to know how to be a heart muscle cell; it does not need to know how to be a skin cell or a bone cell. Heart, skin and bone cells have the same instruction manual but they read from different chapters. Epigenetics helps ensure the right instructions are used at the right time by annotating DNA with special chemical markers.
As a global leader in epigenetics research, VAI is home to a host of scientists who investigate how epigenetics help keep us healthy and, when things go wrong, how it contributes to diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, dementias, metabolic disorders and more.
By the numbers
Epigenetics in health and disease
100%
of all cancers involve epigenetic changes*
6.5ft
or 2 meters, is the length of DNA that is packed into every cell in the body
14
clinical trials of epigenetic cancer drugs launched by the Van Andel Institute–Stand Up To Cancer Epigenetics Dream Team
VAI scientists who study epigenetics
Stephen Baylin, M.D.
Co-leader, Van Andel Institute–Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) Epigenetics Dream Team
Primary appointment: Johns Hopkins University
Director’s Scholar and Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Stephen Baylin, M.D.
Co-leader, Van Andel Institute–Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) Epigenetics Dream Team
Biography
Dr. Stephen Baylin earned his M.D. from Duke University in Durham, N.C. in 1968 and completed his internship and first year of residency at the university. He then served as a staff associate at the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart and Lung Institute for two years before returning to Johns Hopkins to complete his residency and fellowship. He was appointed as an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins in 1974 and rose through the ranks, becoming a professor of oncology in 1986 and a professor of medicine in 1990. In 1991, he was appointed chief of the Tumor Biology Division and, the following year, was named as the associate director for research at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. He is currently Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research in the Oncology Department and co-head of Cancer Biology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Baylin has earned numerous prestigious honors, including the 2004 Investigator of the Year Award from NCI SPORE; the 2005 Shubitz Cancer Research Prize from the University of Chicago; and the 2009 Kirk A. Landon-AACR Prize for Basic and Translational Cancer Research, together with Van Andel Institute (VAI) Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Peter A. Jones. In 2011, Drs. Baylin and Jones were jointly awarded the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2017.
He has authored or co-authored more than 450 publications and served as associate editor of Cancer Research. Dr. Baylin also served on the board of the American Association for Cancer Research Board of Directors from 2004 to 2007, and was the leader of the first SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team, launched in 2009.
He has received numerous honors and accolades, including the 2011 American Cancer Society Medal of Honor, which he shared with Dr. Peter A. Jones; election as a fellow of the American Association of Cancer Research Academy in 2014; and election as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2017.
In 2015, he accepted an appointment at VAI as co-leader of the VAI–SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team, which he leads with Dr. Jones, and as a professor in the Center for Epigenetics. In addition to his work at VAI, Dr. Baylin continues his work at Johns Hopkins
Nick Burton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Maternal Effects on Metabolism and Host-Microbe Interactions
Nick Burton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Biography
Dr. Nick Burton explores two main topics: How a mother’s environment impacts offspring metabolism and how microbiome bacteria can influence animal health. Both of these projects have a particular interest in insulin signaling with a long-term aim of preventing the onset of human pathologies associated with insulin signaling such as Type 2 diabetes. He earned a B.S. in biology from University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he worked in the labs of both Dr. Anna Huttenlocher and Dr. Scott Kennedy. He was then awarded a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and earned a Ph.D. in biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied under the mentorship of Dr. H. Robert Horvitz. As part of his dissertation work, Dr. Burton sought to develop new paradigms to study the mechanisms by which parental environment regulates offspring physiology. In 2017, he joined the Centre for Trophoblast Research at University of Cambridge as an independent Next Generation Fellow. While there, he investigated how environmental bacteria can affect development, physiology, metabolism and neuronal function of individuals and their offspring. In 2021, he joined Van Andel Institute as an assistant professor in the Department of Epigenetics; in 2023, he joined the Institute’s Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming.
H. Josh Jang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Leveraging epigenetic and metabolic vulnerabilities to improve immunotherapy
Biography
Dr. H. Josh Jang investigates combining epigenetic therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors to enhance the immune system’s ability to better fight cancer.
He earned his B.S. in health promotion and disease prevention from University of Southern California and his Ph.D. in molecular genetics and genomics from Washington University in St. Louis. During his graduate studies in the lab of Dr. Ting Wang, Dr. Jang concentrated on characterizing transposable elements’ contribution to oncogenic potential in cancer cell line models, as well as other projects that established and optimized targeted epigenetic technologies using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.
In 2020, Dr. Jang joined Van Andel Institute as a VAI Fellow under Drs. Peter A. Jones and Stephen B. Baylin. He has received several prestigious awards for his research including a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence grant and a SPORE Epigenetic Therapies: Career Enhancement Program Award, both from the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Jang also serves as a reviewer for leading journals such as Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and Genome Research, among others. In 2021, he was selected as a Forbeck Scholar and, in 2023, he chaired the Gordon Research Seminar for Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics.
In 2025, Dr. Jang joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Cell Biology as an assistant professor. He leverages innovative -omics technologies, such as single-cell, spatial and long-read sequencing methods to interrogate how the tumor microenvironment responds to therapy.
Derek Janssens, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Epigenetic Regulation of Hematopoiesis and Leukemia
Biography
Dr. Derek Janssens develops novel genomics technologies to explore the epigenetic contributors to hematological cancers with the goal of informing improved diagnostics and therapies.
He earned his B.S. in biomedical sciences from Grand Valley State University and his Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from University of Michigan (mentor: Dr. Cheng-Yu Lee). His doctoral research described a genetically encoded circuit that controls rapid gene activation and cell fate commitment following asymmetric neural stem cell division.
He went on to do a postdoc with Dr. Steve Henikoff at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and contributed to the development of the CUT&RUN and CUT&Tag methods, which enable in situ chromatin profiling in small samples and single cells. He leveraged this approach to map active and repressive regulomes in single cells in mixed-lineage leukemia.
In 2024, he joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Epigenetics as an assistant professor.
He has earned several awards for his research and scholarship including the Hartwell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, a K22 Transition to Independence Award from the National Cancer Institute and the Forbeck Scholars Award.
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)
President and Chief Scientific Officer
Epigenetic Therapies
Biography
Dr. Peter A. Jones was born in Cape Town, raised and attended college in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and received his Ph.D. from the University of London. He joined the University of Southern California in 1977 and served as Director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center between 1993 and 2011. He is currently the Chief Scientific Officer of Van Andel Institute (VAI) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His laboratory discovered the effects of 5-azacytidine on cytosine methylation and he first established the link between DNA methylation, gene expression and differentiation. He pioneered the field of epigenetics, particularly its role in cancer, and helped develop novel therapies for cancer. Dr. Jones is a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research, a Fellow of the AACR Academy, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and received several honors, including the Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute. He and his colleague Dr. Stephen Baylin shared the Kirk A. Landon Award for Basic Cancer Research from the AACR in 2009 and the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society in 2011. He shared the 2022-2023 Harvey Prize in Science and Technology with Drs. Stephen Baylin and Andrew Feinberg for their groundbreaking work in cancer epigenetics.
Connie Krawczyk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Immunology, Epigenetics and Metabolism
Connie Krawczyk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Biography
Connie Krawczyk, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Van Andel Institute and a leader in investigating the links between metabolism, epigenetics and the immune system, with the goal of understanding how they work together in health and disease.
She earned her B.S. with honors in molecular biology and genetics from University of Guelph followed by her Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from University of Toronto. She then completed postdoctoral fellowships in the labs of Dr. Hao Shen and Dr. Edward Pearce at University of Pennsylvania before taking a position as a senior research biologist at Merck Frosst. In 2011, Dr. Krawczyk was recruited to McGill University as an assistant professor, where her work focused on the molecular mechanisms regulating immune function and the immune system’s role in cancer development. She joined VAI as an associate professor in 2018 as part of its new Metabolic and Nutritional Programming group. She is an active member of several professional societies, including the Society for Leucocyte Biology, the immunoTherapy NeTwork (iTNT) and the Canadian Society for Immunology, and has served as a reviewer for the journals Cell Reports, Cell Metabolism, EMBO Reports, Immunity and Nature Scientific Reports, among others.
Society Memberships
Society for Leucocyte Biology
The immunoTherapy NeTwork (iTNT)
Canadian Society for Immunology
Peter W. Laird, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics; Peter and Emajean Cook Endowed Chair in Epigenetics
Cancer Epigenetics
Peter W. Laird, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics; Peter and Emajean Cook Endowed Chair in Epigenetics
Biography
Dr. Laird earned his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Leiden and earned his Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of Amsterdam with Dr. Piet Borst. He completed postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Anton Berns at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and with Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Laird was a faculty member at the University of Southern California (USC) from 1996 to 2014, where he served as professor of surgery, biochemistry and molecular biology; as Skirball-Kenis Professor of Cancer Research; as a program leader in epigenetics and regulation for the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; and as director of the USC Epigenome Center. Dr. Laird joined VAI as a professor in September 2014.
Adelheid (Heidi) Lempradl, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Intergenerational Inheritance of Nutritional States
Adelheid (Heidi) Lempradl, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Biography
Dr. Adelheid (Heidi) Lempradl is an associate professor in the Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming at Van Andel Institute. Her research program advances our fundamental understanding of how early life shapes lifelong physiology and disease risk.
Dr. Lempradl uses an integrative approach that combines developmental biology, metabolism, environmental health, genetics and innovative multi-omic technologies. She pioneered a single-embryo multi-omics platform that reveals, at high resolution, how transcriptional and metabolic programs unfold in early embryos and how they are altered by parental diet or environmental exposures. Her work aims to define the molecular mechanisms that mediate intergenerational metabolic effects and to identify pathways that contribute to disease susceptibility.
Dr. Lempradl earned her Ph.D. at the University of Vienna. She completed postdoctoral training at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Austria and the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany, where her work contributed to a growing understanding of how environmental exposure can leave molecular imprints that persist beyond a single generation. At VAI, she leads a growing research program and is an active mentor and educator within the Van Andel Institute Graduate School.
Hong Li, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Structural Biology
Structural Mechanisms and Therapeutics of RNA Biology
Biography
Dr. Hong Li leverages CRISPR, cryo-EM and other leading-edge technologies to explore the mechanisms underlying RNA-mediated processes.
She earned a B.S. in physics from Sichuan University and a Ph.D. in biophysics from University of Rochester. Following her graduate studies, Dr. Li completed postdoctoral fellowships at CalTech and Brookhaven Lab before establishing her independent lab at Florida State University in 1999. Since then, she has built a multi-faceted research program that has elucidated key details about RNA-mediated processes and informed new strategies for gene editing, cancer diagnosis and virus detection.
In 2021, Dr. Li was appointed the Director of the Institute of Molecular Biophysics at Florida State University, a position she held until joining Van Andel Institute’s Department of Structural Biology in 2024.
Dr. Li is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and held the prestigious Pfeiffer Family Endowed Professorship for Cancer Research at Florida State. She currently is an associate editor for The CRISPR Journal.
Maulik Patel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Mitochondrial genetics, cell biology and metabolism
Maulik Patel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming
Biography
Dr. Maulik Patel studies how cells handle, store and expend energy, with a focus on how this intricate process, connected with metabolism and nutrition, interacts with other systems to influence health, disease and aging. His research centers on cellular “powerhouses” called mitochondria, which support day-to-day function and, when faulty, contribute to rare, devastating diseases in children and common degenerative conditions in aging adults.
After earning his B.A. in cognitive neurophilosophy from Grinnell College, Dr. Patel worked as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Larry Katz at Duke University, where he studied pheromone-based memory development. He later earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University under the mentorship of Dr. Kang Shen. His doctoral research focused on synapse development and resulted in several high-impact publications.
Following graduate school, Dr. Patel joined the lab of Dr. Harmit Malik at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he developed a mitochondria-focused research program. During his postdoc, Dr. Patel was awarded a prestigious Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship to support his work.
Dr. Patel joined Vanderbilt University as an assistant professor in 2015. Leveraging C. elegans as a model, his lab revealed new insights into mitochondria’s role in homeostasis, mitochondrial genome dynamics and mitochondrial fitness. Dr. Patel also developed and taught the undergraduate courses Introduction to Cell Biology and Principles of Human Disease. His commitment to supporting the next generation of scientists earned him the 2021 Excellence in Mentoring Award from Vanderbilt’s Department of Biological Sciences.
In 2025, Dr. Patel joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming as an associate professor. He continues to expand his research, with an emphasis on how mitochondrial genetics and metabolism influence development and physiology.
J. Andrew Pospisilik, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Epigenetic Origins of Heterogeneity and Disease
Biography
Dr. J. Andrew Pospisilik is a leading expert in the study of how the epigenome regulates complex trait variation as well as disease susceptibility and heterogeneity. He earned his B.Sc. with honors and his Ph.D. in Physiology from University of British Columbia, where his work focused on type 1 and 2 diabetes. Later, as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Josef M. Penninger at IMBA Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Dr. Pospisilik performed the first genome-wide RNAi-screen for obesity in Drosophila, identifying some of the first specific developmental regulators of brown adipose tissue formation, and overturned dogma showing that compromised mitochondrial function actually buffers against diabetes. In 2010, he established his laboratory at Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany, where his team made groundbreaking advances, including development of novel sensitized models for understanding epigenetic stability and variation in metabolic disease; the first formal proof for the existence of polyphenism in mammals (including suggestions in humans) and the first mapping of a genetic architecture for mammalian phenotypic buffering. In 2018, Dr. Pospisilik joined Van Andel Institute as chair of its Department of Epigenetics and a founding member of its Metabolic and Nutritional Programming group. He is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the 2016 Novo Nordisk Helmholtz Young Investigator Award, the 2015 GSK Award for Basic Medical Research, the 2013 EASD Rising Star Award and the 2011 RISE1 Award from the Epigenesys Network of Excellence. He also is a member of the World Economic Forum faculty.
Scott Rothbart, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Chromatin and Epigenetic Regulation
Biography
Dr. Scott Rothbart is an internationally recognized expert in the field of epigenetics, particularly in the area of chromatin regulation through histone post-translational modifications. He earned a B.S. in food science and human nutrition from the University of Florida, followed by a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from Virginia Commonwealth University in the lab of Dr. Rick Moran. Dr. Rothbart then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Brian Strahl’s lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He established his lab at Van Andel Institute in 2015 and rose through the ranks to full professor in 2023. Dr. Rothbart is also a basic science investigator on the Van Andel Institute–Stand Up To Cancer Epigenetics Dream Team and co-director of the VAI Cancer Epigenetics Training Program. Dr. Rothbart’s work has contributed fundamental insights into mechanisms of epigenetic regulation and has introduced new tools and methodologies to the field. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a K99/R00 career development award from the National Cancer Institute, an R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society.
Hui Shen, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Epigenomics Analysis in Human Disease
Biography
An expert in bioinformatics and computational biology, Dr. Hui Shen develops and applies cutting-edge genomics technologies and bioinformatic tools to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of gene transcription and cell differentiation — collectively known as epigenetics. Her multi-faceted research has led to improved understanding of molecular and cellular mechanisms driving various cancer types, particularly ovarian cancer.
Dr. Shen earned her B.Sc. in biology from Nanjing University and her Ph.D. in genetic, molecular and cellular biology from the University of Southern California (USC), where she was supported by a Provost Ph.D. Fellowship. She was part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) team, a landmark multi-institutional effort to map the molecular basis of cancer. Dr. Shen joined Van Andel Institute in 2014 as an assistant professor, rising to associate professor in 2018 and full professor in 2023.
She is an F1000 Faculty Member in Cancer Epigenetics and has received numerous honors, including the Liz Tilberis Award from the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, an NIH/NCI ESI MERIT Award, and an AACR Team Science Award. In 2025, she was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in recognition of her contributions to computational cancer epigenetics.
Xiaobing Shi, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Histone Modifications and Chromatin Regulation
Biography
Dr. Xiaobing Shi is an expert in cancer epigenetics and a professor in the Department of Epigenetics at Van Andel Institute. He earned a B.S. in biology from Wuhan University followed by a Ph.D. in biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, both with honors. He subsequently completed postdoctoral fellowships in the labs of Drs. Arthur Kornberg and Or Gozani at Stanford University before accepting a faculty position at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he most recently served as an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Cancer Epigenetics. Dr. Shi’s work has led to the discovery of several new readers of histone posttranslational modifications, particularly in acetylation and methylation, and elucidated their impact on cancer development. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a Career Development Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society, a Kimmel Scholar Award from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation, and an inaugural R. Lee Clark Fellow from UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Society Memberships
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
American Association for Cancer Research
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Piroska Szabó, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Developmental Programming
Biography
Dr. Piroska Szabó earned an M.Sc. in biology and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary. She joined Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, Calif. in 1992 as a postdoctoral fellow. She served first as an assistant research scientist and associate research scientist before becoming an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Beckman Research Institute in 2006 and was promoted to associate professor in 2011. She joined VAI in 2014 as an associate professor in the Department of Epigenetics.
Tim Triche, Jr., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Faculty Advisor, Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core
Translational Biological Informatics
Biography
Dr. Tim Triche, Jr., earned his A.B. in chemistry from Cornell University, followed by an M.S. in biostatistics and a Ph.D. in statistical genetics from University of Southern California. Prior to joining Van Andel Institute’s Department of Epigenetics in 2017, he served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology at USC’s Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he studied the roles of cellular and immune senescence in benign and malignant blood disorders, including acute myeloid leukemia and pediatric leukemia. He has been a key member of The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network since 2011, and has contributed to more than a dozen of the consortium’s publications in journals such as Nature and Cell. As a statistician with interests in both basic and translational research, Dr. Triche’s work focuses on improving patient outcomes and quality of life through the design of randomized clinical trials, which are critical components of moving promising therapies from the lab to the doctor’s office.
Memberships
American Society of Hematology
Global Alliance for Genomic Health
American Association for Cancer Research
International Society of Paediatric Oncology
Bang-An Wang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurodegenerative Science
Epigenetic Regulation and Neurodegeneration
Biography
Dr. Bang-An Wang is a geneticist whose research weaves together experimental and computational approaches to explore epigenetics in brain development and neurodegeneration.
He earned his B.S. in biochemistry from Shandong University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. As a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Guo-liang Xu, Dr. Wang identified dysfunction in the Lefty-Nodal pathway as the molecular mechanism underlying embryonic developmental defects caused by the disrupted DNA demethylation pathway.
In 2016, Dr. Wang joined the lab of Dr. Joseph Ecker at Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he held roles as a postdoctoral fellow and a staff scientist. While at Salk, he investigated epigenetic regulation of brain cell heterogeneity and its effects on neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. Dr. Wang co-developed snmCAT-seq, a novel, robust single cell multi-omics method that enables capture of methylome, transcriptome and open chromatin within one cell. snmCAT-seq has enabled discovery across numerous high-impact projects that explore cell diversity in the brain, including the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Human Cell Atlas and the American Heart Association-Allen Initiative in Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment.
In 2025, Dr. Wang joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Neurodegenerative Science as an assistant professor. His lab leverages multi-disciplinary methods to explore the roles of epigenetics in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Wang’s research has resulted in several awards, including the 2018 Salk Innovation Award and inclusion in the Top 10 Scientific Advances in China in 2016 and 2012.
Hong Wen, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics
Epigenetics and Transcription
Biography
Dr. Hong Wen earned her B.S. in biochemistry from Wuhan University and her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, both with honors. She subsequently served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University. She joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as an assistant professor in 2008 and was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis in 2017. Dr. Wen joined Van Andel Institute in 2018 as an associate professor in the Department of Epigenetics and was promoted to professor in 2023. She is an epigenetics expert who investigates the molecular underpinnings of pediatric cancers, with a focus on how epigenetic dysregulation impacts gene expression and drives malignancy. She is also committed to developing new improved epigenetic therapies for cancer treatment. Dr. Wen is an awardee of Career Development Program Scholar from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Evan Worden, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Structural Biology
Structural Biology of Epigenetic Complexes
Biography
Dr. Evan Worden leverages breakthrough technologies such as cryo-EM to investigate the epigenetic mechanisms underpinning cancer, with a focus on posttranslational histone modifications. He earned his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Dr. Andreas Martin. Dr. Worden’s graduate work explored protein degradation by the 26S proteasome and answered long-standing questions about the mechanisms that link ubiquitin removal and protein degradation. From there, he joined the lab of Dr. Cynthia Wolberger at Johns Hopkins University as a postdoctoral fellow. Using cryo-EM and biochemical approaches, he elucidated novel functions of Dot1L and COMPASS, two histone lysine methyltransferases that play key roles in gene transcription. In 2021, Dr. Worden joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Structural Biology as an assistant professor.
He has earned numerous prestigious awards for his research, including a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Paul Ehrlich Award for Postdoctoral Research from Johns Hopkins, and the Nicholas Cozzarelli Prize for best Ph.D. thesis from University of California, Berkeley. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Damon Runyon Dale Frey Award.
Qiang Zhu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurodegenerative Science
Genetics, Epigenetics and Therapeutic Innovation in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Biography
Qiang Zhu, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist with deep expertise in the molecular and cellular mechanisms that give rise to neurodegenerative diseases. He earned his Ph.D. in anatomical sciences and neurobiology from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He then joined the lab of Dr. Don Cleveland at University of California, San Diego, as a postdoctoral fellow. While there, he co-led a collaborative team of researchers from academia and industry to investigate the C9ORF72 repeat expansion, the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). His work established the feasibility of an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)-mediated therapy, which is currently in clinical trials for treating the C9ORF72 ALS/FTD. He further elucidated the synergistic effects of gain of repeat toxicity and loss of the C9ORF72 function in driving the C9ORF72-associated ALS and FTD, which revealed new opportunities for drug development targeting this mutation. He recently developed new motor neuron disease models and is collaborating with the biotech industry to explore new treatments. Dr. Zhu has earned several awards for his scholarship, including the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Starter Grant from the ALS Association.
Patent
Methods for reducing c9orf72 expression. PCT/US2017/027355, US2019/0142856 A1, 2016
Recent Publications
* Co-first authors# Co-corresponding authors
Source
*Baylin SB, Jones PA. 2016. Epigenetic determinants of cancer. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5008069