Yichen Wang

Postdoctoral fellow

Yichen Wang is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Sanger Institute and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Her research interest is to use genome sequencing and computational tools to investigate the normal ageing process as well as early cancer development.

Mutational processes in normal human tissues

Somatic mutations are thought to accumulate in all cells throughout life. However, knowledge of the biological processes generating mutations that are operative in normal cells, and their mutation rates, has been extremely limited. Insights into these biological processes and their activities are provided by the patterns of mutation, known as “mutational signatures”, found in the sets of somatic mutations in the genomes of cells. My postdoc projects will be focusing on how mutations can informs us the mechanisms of ageing.

During my PhD, I investigated the underlying mutational processes in normal human tissues and their relationship with cancer predisposition, under the supervision of Mike Stratton and Peter Campbell of . An example of my research can be found in this blog and I also work closely with the Mutographs team.

Prior to my PhD, I was trained in Prof. Cheng Li’s group at Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University investigating 3D genome organization during ageing in C.elegans and was an intern in Prof. X. Shirley Liu’s group at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

My timeline

• Elected Junior Research Fellow, Woflson College, Cambridge

• PhD in Computational Biology, Wellcome Sanger Institute/University of Cambridge

• Staretd Postdoc at Wellcome Sanger Institute

• B.S. in Biological Science, Peking University

• B.S. in Applied Mathematics, Peking University