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Charleston Chiang, PhD

Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences

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Overview

Charleston Chiang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Keck School of Medicine, USC. He is the Associate Director for Center of Genetic Epidemiology, and also jointly affiliated with the Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology and Dornsife School of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, USC. Dr. Chiang is a medical population geneticist focused on understanding how the evolutionary forces, specifically demographic history and natural selection, shaped the genetic architecture of complex traits within and between human populations. To this end, he has led a number of large-scale genomic studies in humans to characterize the fine-scale population structure, to investigate signals of natural selection and adaptation, and to leverage these evolutionary insights to map the genetic loci underlying human complex traits. He is most interested in studying diverse populations with a unique history; projects in his group has included populations from Finland, China, Sardinia, as well as the Latino American and Native Hawaiian cohorts. Prior to his position at Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Dr. Chiang received his B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University, and completed his postdoctoral training in Population Genetics and Human Genetics at UCLA. His current lab website can be found at http://chianglab.usc.edu

Awards

  • American Society of Human Genetics: ASHG Human Genetics and Genomics Advances Outstanding Early Career Publication Award, 2023
  • ASHG Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Research Semi-finalist, 2017
  • National Institute of Health NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32), 2013-2015
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellowship, 2007-2010

Publications

  • The Promise of Inferring the Past Using the Ancestral Recombination Graph Genome Biol Evol. 2024 Feb 01; 16(2). . View in PubMed
  • Recombination map tailored to Native Hawaiians may improve robustness of genomic scans for positive selection Hum Genet. 2024 Jan; 143(1):85-99. . View in PubMed
  • The accuracy of polygenic score models for anthropometric traits and Type II Diabetes in the Native Hawaiian Population medRxiv. 2023 Dec 28. . View in PubMed
  • Tree-based QTL mapping with expected local genetic relatedness matrices Am J Hum Genet. 2023 Dec 07; 110(12):2077-2091. . View in PubMed
  • Imputation Accuracy Across Global Human Populations bioRxiv. 2023 Oct 26. . View in PubMed
  • Genome-wide assessment of genetic risk loci for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Japanese patients Haematologica. 2023 Oct 26. . View in PubMed
  • A likelihood-based framework for demographic inference from genealogical trees bioRxiv. 2023 Oct 13. . View in PubMed
  • Evaluating Genomic Polygenic Risk Scores for Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Latinos HGG Adv. 2023 Sep 13; 100239. . View in PubMed
  • Recombination map tailored to Native Hawaiians improves robustness of genomic scans for positive selection bioRxiv. 2023 Sep 02. . View in PubMed
  • Evaluating Genomic Polygenic Risk Scores for Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Latinos medRxiv. 2023 Jun 12. . View in PubMed
  • Estimating heritability explained by local ancestry and evaluating stratification bias in admixture mapping from summary statistics bioRxiv. 2023 Apr 18. . View in PubMed
  • Tree-based QTL mapping with expected local genetic relatedness matrices bioRxiv. 2023 Apr 08. . View in PubMed
  • Erratum: Ancestral diversity improves discovery and fine-mapping of genetic loci for anthropometric traits-The Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry Consortium HGG Adv. 2023 Jan 12; 4(1):100149. . View in PubMed
  • Estimating heritability explained by local ancestry and evaluating stratification bias in admixture mapping from summary statistics Am J Hum Genet. 2023 11 02; 110(11):1853-1862. . View in PubMed
  • Inverted genomic regions between reference genome builds in humans impact imputation accuracy and decrease the power of association testing HGG Adv. 2023 01 12; 4(1):100159. . View in PubMed
  • Ancestral diversity improves discovery and fine-mapping of genetic loci for anthropometric traits-The Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry Consortium HGG Adv. 2022 Apr 14; 3(2):100099. . View in PubMed
  • Variant to function mapping at single-cell resolution through network propagation bioRxiv. 2022 Jan 24. . View in PubMed
  • Variant to function mapping at single-cell resolution through network propagation Nat Biotechnol. 2022 11; 40(11):1644-1653. . View in PubMed
  • Localized variation in ancestral admixture identifies pilocytic astrocytoma risk loci among Latino children PLoS Genet. 2022 09; 18(9):e1010388. . View in PubMed
  • A Rare Germline HOXB13 Variant Contributes to Risk of Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry Eur Urol. 2022 05; 81(5):458-462. . View in PubMed
  • Genome-wide trans-ethnic meta-analysis identifies novel susceptibility loci for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia Leukemia. 2022 03; 36(3):865-868. . View in PubMed
  • A genealogical estimate of genetic relationships Am J Hum Genet. 2022 05 05; 109(5):812-824. . View in PubMed
  • Allele frequency differentiation at height-associated SNPs among continental human populations Eur J Hum Genet. 2021 10; 29(10):1542-1548. . View in PubMed
  • The impact of global and local Polynesian genetic ancestry on complex traits in Native Hawaiians PLoS Genet. 2021 02; 17(2):e1009273. . View in PubMed
  • Mitochondrial genome copy number measured by DNA sequencing in human blood is strongly associated with metabolic traits via cell-type composition differences Hum Genomics. 2021 06 07; 15(1):34. . View in PubMed
  • Genetic determinants of blood-cell traits influence susceptibility to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia Am J Hum Genet. 2021 10 07; 108(10):1823-1835. . View in PubMed
  • Discovery and fine-mapping of height loci via high-density imputation of GWASs in individuals of African ancestry Am J Hum Genet. 2021 04 01; 108(4):564-582. . View in PubMed
  • Association of structural variation with cardiometabolic traits in Finns Am J Hum Genet. 2021 04 01; 108(4):583-596. . View in PubMed
  • The Opportunities and Challenges of Integrating Population Histories Into Genetic Studies for Diverse Populations: A Motivating Example From Native Hawaiians Front Genet. 2021; 12:643883. . View in PubMed
  • Genetic Studies of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Singaporeans Identify Variants in TNNI3 and TNNT2 That Are Common in Chinese Patients Circ Genom Precis Med. 2020 10; 13(5):424-434. . View in PubMed
  • Trans-ethnic and Ancestry-Specific Blood-Cell Genetics in 746,667 Individuals from 5 Global PopulationsCell. 2020 09 03; 182(5):1198-1213. e14. . View in PubMed
  • Population-specific reference panels are crucial for genetic analyses: an example of the CREBRF locus in Native Hawaiians Hum Mol Genet. 2020 08 03; 29(13):2275-2284. . View in PubMed
  • Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia Nat Commun. 2020 02 24; 11(1):939. . View in PubMed
  • Evidence of Polygenic Adaptation in Sardinia at Height-Associated Loci Ascertained from the Biobank Japan Am J Hum Genet. 2020 07 02; 107(1):60-71. . View in PubMed
  • Author Correction: Exome sequencing of Finnish isolates enhances rare-variant association power Nature. 2019 Nov; 575(7783):E4. . View in PubMed
  • Exome sequencing of Finnish isolates enhances rare-variant association power Nature. 2019 08; 572(7769):323-328. . View in PubMed
  • Polygenic adaptation on height is overestimated due to uncorrected stratification in genome-wide association studies Elife. 2019 03 21; 8. . View in PubMed
  • Genomic history of the Sardinian population Nat Genet. 2018 10; 50(10):1426-1434. . View in PubMed
  • A Comprehensive Map of Genetic Variation in the World’s Largest Ethnic Group-Han Chinese Mol Biol Evol. 2018 11 01; 35(11):2736-2750. . View in PubMed
  • Correction: The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study PLoS Genet. 2016 06; 12(6):e1006166. . View in PubMed
  • A principal component meta-analysis on multiple anthropometric traits identifies novel loci for body shape Nat Commun. 2016 11 23; 7:13357. . View in PubMed
  • Population structure of Han Chinese in the modern Taiwanese population based on 10,000 participants in the Taiwan Biobank project Hum Mol Genet. 2016 12 15; 25(24):5321-5331. . View in PubMed
  • Conflation of Short Identity-by-Descent Segments Bias Their Inferred Length Distribution G3 (Bethesda). 2016 05 03; 6(5):1287-96. . View in PubMed
  • Genome sequencing elucidates Sardinian genetic architecture and augments association analyses for lipid and blood inflammatory markers Nat Genet. 2015 Nov; 47(11):1272-1281. . View in PubMed
  • Height-reducing variants and selection for short stature in Sardinia Nat Genet. 2015 Nov; 47(11):1352-1356. . View in PubMed
  • The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study PLoS Genet. 2015 Oct; 11(10):e1005378. . View in PubMed
  • Spatial localization of recent ancestors for admixed individuals G3 (Bethesda). 2014 Nov 03; 4(12):2505-18. . View in PubMed
  • Simulation of Finnish population history, guided by empirical genetic data, to assess power of rare-variant tests in Finland Am J Hum Genet. 2014 May 01; 94(5):710-20. . View in PubMed
  • Genomic analysis of the blood attributed to Louis XVI (1754-1793), king of France Sci Rep. 2014 Apr 24; 4:4666. . View in PubMed
  • Derived immune and ancestral pigmentation alleles in a 7,000-year-old Mesolithic European Nature. 2014 Mar 13; 507(7491):225-8. . View in PubMed
  • A meta-analysis identifies new loci associated with body mass index in individuals of African ancestry Nat Genet. 2013 Jun; 45(6):690-6. . View in PubMed
  • Evidence of widespread selection on standing variation in Europe at height-associated SNPs Nat Genet. 2012 Sep; 44(9):1015-9. . View in PubMed
  • Ultraconserved elements in the human genome: association and transmission analyses of highly constrained single-nucleotide polymorphisms Genetics. 2012 Sep; 192(1):253-66. . View in PubMed
  • Genome-wide association of copy-number variation reveals an association between short stature and the presence of low-frequency genomic deletions Am J Hum Genet. 2011 Dec 09; 89(6):751-9. . View in PubMed
  • The efficacy of detecting variants with small effects on the Affymetrix 60 platform using pooled DNA. Hum Genet. 2011 Nov; 130(5):607-21. . View in PubMed
  • Combined admixture mapping and association analysis identifies a novel blood pressure genetic locus on 5p13: contributions from the CARe consortium Hum Mol Genet. 2011 Jun 01; 20(11):2285-95. . View in PubMed
  • Genome-wide association of anthropometric traits in African- and African-derived populations Hum Mol Genet. 2010 Jul 01; 19(13):2725-38. . View in PubMed
  • Rapid assessment of genetic ancestry in populations of unknown origin by genome-wide genotyping of pooled samples PLoS Genet. 2010 Mar 05; 6(3):e1000866. . View in PubMed
  • Ultraconserved elements: analyses of dosage sensitivity, motifs and boundaries Genetics. 2008 Dec; 180(4):2277-93. . View in PubMed
  • Concept, design and implementation of a cardiovascular gene-centric 50 k SNP array for large-scale genomic association studies PLoS One. 2008; 3(10):e3583. . View in PubMed
  • Direct regulation of adult brain function by the male-specific factor SRY Curr Biol. 2006 Feb 21; 16(4):415-20. . View in PubMed

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