Department of Genetics
September 2026
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Gabor Egervari, MD, PhD receives first R01 to investigate how alcohol metabolites affect the brain |
Gabor Egervari, MD, PhD, has received his first R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate how metabolites of alcohol alter gene regulation in the brain and contribute to behaviors associated with alcohol use disorder. Read more »
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“Tristan” Qingyun Li, PhD receives R01 to study microglial dynamics and plasticity in Alzheimer’s disease |
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Tristan Qingyun Li, PhD has received a new $3M R01 grant from the NIH. The Li Lab studies microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, and their functions in development, aging and disease. The new study will focus on microglial dynamics and plasticity in Alzheimer’s disease.
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Yang E. Li, PhD receives R35 to develop cutting-edge machine learning tools for comparative genomics |
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Yang E. Li, PhD has received an R35 from the NIH for the project titled "Bridging the Gap between Animal Models and Humans through Comparative Genomics and Machine Learning". The Li lab aims to develop computational and machine-learning tools to compare gene regulation across animal models and humans, helping identify conserved mechanisms of disease and improve the translation of animal research to human medicine.
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A warm welcome to Dr. Yang Xie and her team |
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We’re excited to welcome Dr. Yang Xie to the Department of Genetics this September! Dr. Yang Xie has been selected for the BJC Investigator Program and will launch and direct the Center for AI-Driven Precision Medicine. We’re thrilled to have her and her team join our growing Genetics community.
Pictured: Bottom row, from left: Ismael Villanueva Miranda, Yang Xie, Guanghua (Andy) Xiao, Cheng Huang.
Second row, from left: Yunfei Hu, Lesi He, Wenqi Shi, Joshua Morin-Baxter, Yi Jiang. Welcome to WashU Genetics, Dr. Xie and team!
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DNA damage can trigger neurons to self-destruct |
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In a new study published in Neuron, the researchers showed how DNA damage triggers SARM1, leading to axon loss and nerve cell death. Read more »
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Congrats to Phuc Nguyen, a graduate student in the Cremins lab on being selected as a recipient of WashU’s Ann W. and Spencer T. Olin-Chancellor’s Fellowship, a university-wide graduate fellowship! |
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| Congrats to Edwin Peña Martinez, PhD, joint postdoc in the Meers and White labs, for being awarded a Ruth Kirchstein NRSA F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH! |
Edwin’s proposal combines advanced chromatin profiling and in vivo MPRAs to investigate how non-coding DNA elements can function as both enhancers and repressors during retinal development.
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Kudos to Meers Lab PhD student AJ Federico, who was awarded a Ruth Kirchstein NRSA F31 Predoctoral Fellowship by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at NIH! |
AJ’s proposal will investigate how different chromatin states influence pioneer transcription factor FOXA1 binding and function, using precise expression and machine learning to predict its activity.
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Xianjie Que, a recent graduate of the WashU Biostatistics Masters' program, presented a poster at the Annual Symposium of the WashU Musculoskeletal Research Center, under the mentorship of Dr. Nancy Saccone and Dr. Liz Yanik. |
She also gave a brief "Science Slam" talk, titled "SNP x BMI Interaction Effects on Knee Osteoarthritis Risk: A Gene-Environment Interaction Analysis in UK Biobank." You can watch her talk here.
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The Turner lab received a pilot grant from the WashU Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) to study 9p Deletion Syndrome, read full announcement here.
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The Ushiki Lab participated in the 2026 St. Louis Promise Walk for Preeclampsia, joining patients, survivors, families, and community members to raise awareness of preeclampsia. Aki also shared her lab’s research on preeclampsia, which is supported by the Preeclampsia Foundation.
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Congratulations to Lijuan Feng, PhD and William Buchser, PhD on receiving the DBBS Excellence in Education Award. Nominated by students, the awardees are honored for their exceptional mentorship and steadfast commitment to the development of our PhD students as scientists and professionals. |
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The Genetics Postdoc Network held its inaugural welcome event on Aug. 27! Established in 2026, the network provides support, community and networking opportunities for postdocs across the Department of Genetics. We’re excited to see this new community grow! |
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So much fun at our 2026 World Cup watch party! It was a great opportunity to come together, cheer on our favorite teams, and enjoy the game with our Genetics community. Thanks to everyone who joined us and helped make it such a fun event! |
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"SARM1 executes neuronal parthanatos and promotes excitotoxic cell death" in Neuron, Milbrandt lab
"ISOMPRA enables the disambiguation of transcriptional and post-transcriptional effects of genetic variants" in Nature Methods, Dougherty lab
“Persistent chromatin alterations and gene expression reprogramming follow widespread DNA damage in glioblastoma.” in Nature Communications, Cremins lab
“Integrative spatial profiling of 3D genome organization and gene expression in tissue.” in Cell, Cremins lab
"Unlocking cis-regulatory landscapes across 500 million years of evolution and disease mechanisms" in NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics, Wang lab and the late Guoyan Zhao lab.
"Epigenetic and 3D genome reprogramming during the aging of the human hippocampus" in Science, Wang lab
"Single-cell multiomics and chromatin structure reveal gene-regulatory dynamics in heart failure" in Science, Wang lab
"Single-cell analysis of the epigenome and 3D chromatin architecture in the human retina" in Science Advances, Wang lab
"SMURF: soft-segmentation for single-cell reconstruction and topological analysis of spatial transcriptomic data" in Nature Communications, Mitra and Dougherty labs
"Core activation program and selective regional responsiveness of microglia during aging and parabiosis" in Cell Reports, Tristan Li lab and the late Guoyan Zhao lab.
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