Chongzhi Zang Lab
Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Chongzhi Zang, PhD
Office: West Complex, Room 6131C
Phone: 434-243-5397
Email: zang@virginia.edu
Website: czang.github.io
School of Medicine faculty profile
School of Engineering faculty profile
Google Scholar profile
ORCID profile
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Dr. Chongzhi Zang is an Associate Professor in the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia School of Medicine. He holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Public Health Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Biomedical Engineering at UVA since November 2016. He is also a faculty member of the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center. Chongzhi received his BS in physics from Peking University and PhD in physics from the George Washington University. He did his undergraduate research in high-field laser physics with Jie Zhang at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his PhD research in computational biophysics with Weiqun Peng and Keji Zhao at the National Institutes of Health. Before joining UVA, he completed his postdoctoral training with Xiaole Shirley Liu at Harvard University's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Chongzhi is a computational biologist with expertise in epigenetics and transcriptional regulation. His research focuses on algorithm development for high-throughput genomic data analysis and integrative modeling of gene regulatory networks in mammalian cell systems.
Research Scientists
Zhenjia Wang, PhD
Zhenjia joined the lab as a postdoctoral research associate in January 2017 and has been a research scientist since June 2021. She received her PhD in bioinformatics from School of Mathematics, Shandong University in China. She is working on integration of publicly available transcription factor ChIP-seq data for studying functional gene regulation, and integration of RNA-seq data with ChIP-seq data for studying epigenetic mechanisms of cancer.
Sheng'en Shawn Hu, PhD
Dr. Sheng'en Shawn Hu is a research scientist after postdoctoral training in the lab. Before joining UVA in November 2017, he completed his PhD training in bioinformatics from School of Life Science and Technology, Tongji University in China, and was a visiting student at Harvard University. He is working on developing computatinoal methodology of integrating high-throughput chromatin accessibility data for studying functional gene regulation.
Postdoctoral Associates
Qingying Chen, PhD
Qingying Chen joined the lab as a postdoctoral research associate in January 2021. She received her PhD in physics from the University of Tulsa and her B.S. in Applied Physics from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China. Her research focused on designing, simulating, and testing the interference filters for the phonic sensing, and developing coating techniques to functionalize the integrated sensing elements. She is interested in computational biology and excited to gain experience in bioinformatics research.
Shengyuan Wang, PhD
Shengyuan Wang joined the lab as a postdoctoral research associate in March 2022. He received his PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from George Mason University, M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from North Carolina Central University and B.S. in Biotechnology from China Agricultural University. His research interest lies in algorithm development in genomics data analysis to tackle biological problems.
Kyubin Lee, PhD
Kyubin Lee joined the lab as a postdoctoral research associate in October 2022. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science and B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His Ph.D. research with Mark Craven focused on developing explainable machine learning (ML) methods with applications to mapping viral genotypes to host disease phenotypes. He also worked on developing computational methods for cancer genomics research at National Cancer Center in South Korea as part of his military service. Co-mentored by Drs. Yuh-Hwa Wang and Francine Garrett-Bakelman at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, he is interested in applying integrative ML methods to address various challenges to understand human biology. Outside of research, he enjoys having time with his family.
Graduate Students
Mengxue Tian
Mengxue Tian is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program. Before joining UVA as a research specialist in 2019, she received her B.E. and M.S. in Bioinformatics from School of Life Science and Technology, Tongji University in China. She is working on high-throughput genomics data analysis for studying transcription and replication mechanisms in different disease and biological systems.
Hongpan Zhang
Hongpan Zhang is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program. Before joining the lab in 2019, he obtained two bachelor's degrees in life sciences and software engineering from Sichuan University in China. Hongpan is keen to study the connection between genomic phenomena and diseases. He hopes to raise his knowledge of biological issues in his research work. Hongpan is a basketball fan and also loves other sports events. He is interested in historical knowledge as well.
Zhaoxia Ma
Zhaoxia Ma is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program. She received her M.S. in Operational Research and Computational Systems Biology from Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and B.S. in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics (Honors Science Program) from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China. She is interested in developing computational models and utilizing computational methods to analyze genomics and epigenomics data. She enjoys listening to music and playing badminton.
Kevin Qiu
Kevin is a medical student at UVA expected to graduate in 2026. He received his bachelor's from Northwestern University in 2021 and spent a year there developing skills in whole-genome, RNA, and epigenomic sequencing methods in the context of T cell lymphomas. His research interests lie in the use of high-throughput sequencing methods in the diagnosis, management, and development of treatments for of diseases in a clinical setting.
Research Assistants
Shiyu Jiang joined the lab as a volunteer in January 2023 and became research assistant in July 2023. He currently is a master’s student in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and previously received B.S. in Computer Science from Wenzhou-Kean University in China. His research interests lie in developing algorithms and tools to solve biological problems. In his free time, he likes to play soccer and spend some time at the gym.
Undergraduate Students
Class of 2025
Ivory Tang
Ivory Tang (Class of 2025) plans to major in math and follow a pre-med track. She is looking forward to combining topics in biology, statistics, and computer science and hopes to attend medical school after graduation. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music and spending time outside.
Andy Cao
Andy Cao is a Third Year undergraduate student (Class of 2025) planning to study Biology and Computer Science on a pre-med track. He is excited to develop and apply computational algorithms to explore the human genome and questions relating to genomic disorders.
Jingyi Wang
Jingyi Wang is a Third Year undergraduate student (Class of 2025) with a biochemistry major and a data analytics minor. She is looking forward to investigating genomic issues using bioinformatics approaches and continues studying biostatistics after graduation.
Nina Chinnam
Nina Chinnam is a Third Year undergraduate student (class of 2025) pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Cognitive Science. Her interests lie in machine learning and biological applications of data sciences and analytics.
Yanbin Xu
Yanbin Xu is a Third Year undergraduate student (Class of 2025) pursuing a double major in Neuroscience and Statistics. He is excited to develop and apply bioinformatics algorithms to study genomic problems and learn more about machine learning in precision medicine.
Class of 2026
Grant Atwood
Grant Atwood is a Second Year undergraduate student (Class of 2026) pursuing Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. He hopes to utilize principles from a wide breadth of fields to further understand the human genome. In his free time, he enjoys watching sports of all varieties.
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Associates
| Name | Background | Time at Lab | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yidan Cong, PhD | PhD in Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 06/2021–02/2022 | Data Scientist, Wayfair |
| Christopher Dampier, MD | MD, University of Michigan; General Surgery Residency, University of Virginia |
07/2019–05/2021 | Pathology Fellow, National Cancer Institute, NIH |
| William F. Lamberti, PhD | PhD in Computational Sciences and Informatics, George Mason University | 01/2021–08/2022 | Data Scientist, Google |
Graduate Students
| Name | Program | Time at Lab | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yushan (Brandon) Feng | BA/MS in Computer Science/Statistics | 04/2018–05/2019 | PhD Student in Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park |
| Jiangxue Han | MS in Data Science | 07/2018–08/2019 | Capital One |
| Seung Hyun (Andrew) Lee | BA/MS in Statistics | 09/2018–05/2019 | Graduate Student in Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania |
| Jamel Simpson | PhD in Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) (Rotation) | 01/2021–02/2021 | PhD Student in BIMS, UVA |
| Wuwei Tan | MS in Statistics | 05/2017–05/2018 | PhD Student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University |
| Jose Verdezoto | PhD in Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) (Rotation) | 10/2020–11/2020 | PhD Student in BIMS, UVA |
| Yifan Zhang | Biomedical Engineering | 08/2018–12/2019 | Software Engineer, Google |
Research Assistants
| Name | Background | Time at Lab | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wenjing Ma | MS in Computer Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications | 08/2018–06/2019 | PhD Student in Computer Science and Informatics (BMI track), Emory University |
| Yiren Wang | BS in Astronomy, Peking University | 07/2017–06/2018 | Graduate Student in Statistics, Columbia University |
Undergraduate Students
| Name | Major | Time at Lab | Position after graduation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kuki Davey | Biology | 07/2020–05/2022 | Graduate Student in Genomic Medicine, University of Oxford |
| Yayi Feng | Biology | 09/2017–05/2020 | MS Student in Data Science, UVA |
| Megan Grieco | Systems and Information Engineering | 02/2019–07/2022 | MS Student in Biostatistics, Emory University |
| Alex Hickman | Biomedical Engineering | 07/2020–05/2021 | Engineer at Rivanna Medical |
| Aaron Ho | Biochemistry and Computer Science | 10/2018–05/2020 | Software Engineer at Bloomberg |
| Benjamin Ke | Statistics and Biology, Computer Science minor | 01/2019–06/2022 | Medical Student, UVA |
| Zhou Lu | Statistics and Economics | 04/2018–05/2020 | MS Student in Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University |
| Emilie Neulen | Biology | 02/2020–08/2022 | Biology Patent Examiner |
| Naifei Pan | Statistics | 04/2018–02/2019 | Data Analyst at GSK |
| Sophie Park | Biochemistry and Music | 01/2019–08/2019 | Postbac IRTA Research Fellow, NIH |
| Stephany Perez-Rojas | Statistics | 01/2018–08/2019 | MS Student in Statistics, UVA |
| Xinyue Qiu | Biology and Statistics | 04/2019–05/2021 | MS Student in Biostatistics, Yale University |
| Sekou Rowe | NSF REU Summer Student; Chemical Engineering, Howard University | 05/2019–08/2019 | Undergrad Student in Chemical Engineering, Howard University |
| Allison Ryu | Computer Science | 09/2018–12/2018 | Software engineer at Amazon |
| Celina Shih | Summer Research Intern; Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University | 05/2017–08/2017 | Bioinformatician, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Zachary V. Thomas | Biomedical Engineering | 05/2019–05/2021 | PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California |
| Jin Yong (Jeffrey) Yoo | Computer Science | 02/2018–05/2020 | MS Student in Computer Science, UVA |
Visting Scholars and Students
| Name | Primary Position | Time at Lab | Current Position (if different) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gang Chen, MD, PhD | Professor of Molecular Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University | 09/2018–08/2019 | |
| Rongquan He, MD | PhD Student, Guangxi Medical University | 03/2018–02/2019 | Oncologist, Guangxi Medical University First Hospital |
| Qi Li | PhD Student in Statistics, Tsinghua University | 01/2018–02/2018, 03/2019 | |
| Wen Shen | Undergraduate Student in Biological Sciences, Nanjing University | 02/2018–05/2018 | Graduate Student in Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University |
| Ruoyao Shi | Undergraduate Student in Tao Aoqing Honors Program in Biology Science, Jilin University | 10/2019–05/2020 | PhD Student in Biostatistics, University of Michigan |
High School Students
| Name | School Affiliation | Time at Lab | Position at Lab |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth McClung | Rockbridge County High School, Lexington, VA ('23) | 07/2022–08/2022 | UVA Advance Summer Program |
| Riya Shah | Mclean High School, Mclean, VA ('23) | 07/2022–08/2022 | UVA Advance Summer Program |
| Chris Stewart | Monticello High School, Charlottesville, VA ('23) | 07/2022–08/2022 | UVA Advance Summer Program |
| Katherine Zhang | Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA ('24) | 06/2022–08/2022 | Volunteer |
We are recruiting!
Put your name here...
The Zang lab is recruiting motivated students and scholars to work on various topics in computational biology in a collaborative research team. Postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students are all welcome. Please visit Positions page for details.
Last modified: September 7, 2023