SDS Colloquium Series

Topic

From Genetic Associations to Genes and Cellular Contexts for Human Complex Traits

Speaker

Jian YANG, Professor of Statistical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University

Host

Jin LIU, Associate Professor, School of Data Science, CUHK-Shenzhen

Date

28 December (Thursday), 2024

Time

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Beijing Time

Format

Onsite

Venue

103 Meeting Room, Dao Yuan Building

Language

English

Abstract

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous genetic variants associated with complex human traits, including diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms and cellular contexts through which these variants exert their effects on phenotypes remain elusive. In this talk, I will present methods and tools that integrate molecular quantitative trait locus (xQTL) data from various omics layers to prioritize potential causal genes and uncover likely mechanisms underlying GWAS loci. I will demonstrate how integrating data across tissues, cell types, and omics layers with GWAS enhances the detection of context-dependent genetic effects that underpin complex traits. I will then demonstrate the use of single-cell RNA-seq data as a reference to deconvolve cell state distributions from RNA-seq data for a cohort of individuals, and subsequently investigate cell state-specific genetic control of gene expression and complex traits. Finally, I will discuss the integration of GWAS and spatial transcriptomics data to profile the spatial distributions of cells associated with complex traits, thereby enhancing our understanding of how spatial cellular contexts contribute to the manifestation of complex traits. This presentation will underscore the importance of multi-omics integration across various contexts in advancing our understanding of complex traits.

Biography

Jian Yang is a Professor of Statistical Genetics at the School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, China. He received his PhD in 2008 from Zhejiang University, China, before undertaking postdoctoral research at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia (2008-2011). He moved to The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, as a Research Fellow in 2012 and was reappointed as a Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader in January 2014. He was promoted to be an Associate Professor in December 2014, and then a Professor in January 2017 at UQ. He joined Westlake University in 2020. His primary research interests are focused on understanding the genomic variations among individuals within and between populations and the links of DNA variations and modifications to phenotypes and diseases.

He was the 2012 recipient of the Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize, in recognition of his contribution to solving the ‘missing heritability’ paradox. He was awarded the Australian Academy of Science Ruth Stephens Gani Medal for distinguished research in human genetics (2015) and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Sciences - Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year (2017). He was named in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers in six consecutive years from 2018 to 2023. He has published a career total of >240 papers, which have received >104,000 citations (Google Scholar, Oct 2024).