Zheng Lab: Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics

Decoding the human genome and other mammalian genomes to understand human diseases is our primary research interest, and comparative genomics and integrated analysis of functional genomics data are our major research approaches. In general, we are interested in developing and applying computational methods for exploiting patterns in high-throughput genomic and epigenomic data and for extracting biological information from experimental and computational bigdata. Since the lab was established in 2007, we have been developing bioinformatics approaches and software in studying the expression, regulation, and evolution of genes (both coding and non-coding) for human cardiac and nervous systems, especially those implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders and congenital heart diseases. We have substantial experiences in the analysis, interpretation, and integration of big experimental data from next-generation sequencing (e.g., ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq and BS-seq) at bulk tissue and single cell levels, supported by > 200 preprints and publications. Using bioinformatics and in collaboration with experimental investigators, we want to understand how a single human genome is used for establishing and maintaining distinct cell lineages and how this important process is abnormally altered during disease development. Our research group focuses on multiple areas.