Ya-Chen Liang, PhD

Dr. Liang’s long-term research goal seeks to decompose how genomes and sub-nuclear structures are functionally organized in cell nuclei while maintaining their flexibility to respond to biological cues during development and disease pathogenesis. She focuses on studying spatial regulations of gene clusters, which are widespread in genomes, but little is known about their inter-cluster and subnuclear organizations. Her research integrates state-of-the-art functional genomic, computational, and proteomic approaches to address long-standing questions at the intersection of topological chromatin states and spatial subnuclear protein scaffolds.

*Dr. Liang’s lab is actively recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Please email your C.V. to ya-chen.liang@med.usc.edu.

• Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan: Overseas Postdoctoral Program for Frontier Technologies, 2014-2016

• Regional specific differentiation of integumentary organs: SATB2 is involved in a- and ß-keratin gene cluster switching in the chicken Dev Dyn. 2022 09; 251(9):1490-1508. . View in PubMed
• Making region-specific integumentary organs in birds: evolution and modifications Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2021 08; 69:103-111. . View in PubMed
• Regional Specific Differentiation of Integumentary Organs: Regulation of Gene Clusters within the Avian Epidermal Differentiation Complex and Impacts of SATB2 Overexpression Genes (Basel). 2021 08 23; 12(8). . View in PubMed
• Symmetry breaking of tissue mechanics in wound induced hair follicle regeneration of laboratory and spiny mice Nat Commun. 2021 05 10; 12(1):2595. . View in PubMed
• Folding Keratin Gene Clusters during Skin Regional SpecificationDev Cell. 2020 06 08; 53(5):561-576. e9. . View in PubMed
• STAT3 signalling pathway is implicated in keloid pathogenesis by preliminary transcriptome and open chromatin analyses Exp Dermatol. 2019 04; 28(4):480-484. . View in PubMed
• Instructive role of melanocytes during pigment pattern formation of the avian skin Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 04 02; 116(14):6884-6890. . View in PubMed
• Transcriptome analyses of reprogrammed feather / scale chimeric explants revealed co-expressed epithelial gene networks during organ specification BMC Genomics. 2018 Oct 29; 19(1):780. . View in PubMed
• DNA Methylation as an Epigenetic Memory Keeper during Skin Development and RegenerationIn: Botchkarev, V. , Millar, S. (eds) Epigenetic Regulation of Skin Development and Regeneration. Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. 2018; 57–73. . View in PubMed
• SUMO5, a Novel Poly-SUMO Isoform, Regulates PML Nuclear Bodies Sci Rep. 2016 05 23; 6:26509. . View in PubMed
• PARP-2 regulates cell cycle-related genes through histone deacetylation and methylation independently of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 Feb 01; 431(1):58-64. . View in PubMed
• FKBPs in chromatin modification and cancer Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2011 Aug; 11(4):301-7. . View in PubMed

• Chuong, Cheng-Ming
• Wu, Ping
• Widelitz, Randall
• McMahon, Andrew
• Farnham, Peggy
• An, Woojin
• Chai, Yang
• Warburton, David