Research groups
Ping Zhang
Senior Postdoctoral Researcher
Statistical Functional Genomics
Emerging evidence suggests that human genetic variation underlying disease susceptibility plays a critical role in drug response variability through its regulatory effect on the transcription of target gene. However, there are challenges in harnessing of susceptibility loci for target identification and therapeutic application, including limitations in (i) exposition of causal variants within susceptibility loci, (ii) understanding of the context specificity, and (iii) mechanistic insights into their influence on cellular behaviours and clinical outcomes.
My current research is focused on systematic prioritisation and characterisation of genetic variation to understand the regulation of acute immune response, endotoxin tolerance; the interplay of innate-adaptive immunity; and development of computational and experimental approaches to uncover epigenetic features, gene sets and mediators involving immune tolerance, and compounds modulating epigenetic state that have potential as novel therapeutics. The research combines multi-omics sequencing, eQTL mapping, bioinformatic and statistical analyses to study variation in disease relevant primary immune cells and human iPSC-derived models.
Recent publications
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eQTLs identify regulatory networks and drivers of variation in the individual response to sepsis.
Journal article
Burnham KL. et al, (2024), Cell genomics
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New role of fat-free mass in cancer risk linked with genetic predisposition.
Journal article
Harris BHL. et al, (2024), Scientific reports, 14
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Mapping the epigenomic landscape of human monocytes following innate immune activation reveals context-specific mechanisms driving endotoxin tolerance.
Journal article
Amarasinghe HE. et al, (2023), BMC genomics, 24
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A Transcriptomic Approach to Understand Patient Susceptibility to Pneumonia After Abdominal Surgery.
Journal article
Torrance HD. et al, (2023), Annals of surgery
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Genomic hallmarks and therapeutic implications of G0 cell cycle arrest in cancer.
Journal article
Wiecek AJ. et al, (2023), Genome biology, 24