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 Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Virginia and serves as the Director of Computational Genomics at the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also affiliated with the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Biomedical Engineering. 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 in November 2016, 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 developing computational methods for high-throughput omics data analysis and integrative modeling of gene regulation in mammalian cell systems.
Research Faculty
Sheng'en Shawn Hu, PhD
Dr. Sheng'en Shawn Hu is a Research Assistant Professor after completing his postdoctoral training in the lab. Before joining UVA in November 2017, he received his undergradaute and PhD degree 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
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.
Ziyi Liu, PhD
Ziyi Liu joined the lab as a postdoctoral research associate in April 2025. She earned her Ph.D. in Genome Science and Technology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in December 2024. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Southern University of Science and Technology in China in June 2019. She is interested in developing computational methods to study epigenetics and transcriptional regulation in mammalian cell models and human diseases. She enjoys painting and aquariums.
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.
Jingyi Wang
Jingyi Wang is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program. She completed her undergraduate degree from UVA with a biochemistry major and a data analytics minor in 3 years. She joined the lab as a Second Year undergrad student and continued her PhD studies in the lab. She is interested in investigating genomics problems using computational approaches.
Bhummanat Sittipongpittaya
Bhummanat Sittipongpittaya is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program. He received his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2024. He is interested in bioinformatics tools development and computational approaches to address biological questions.
Danielle Hughes
Danielle Hughes is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program completing a rotation in the lab. Originally from Prattville, AL, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2022 and her master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2025. Danielle is interested in studying biomolecular condensates. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, baking, thrifting, foraging for wild mushrooms, watching Halloween movies, reading classic literature, and visiting animal shelters.
Research Assistant
Chloe Chen
Chloe Chen is a post-baccalaureate pre-medical student at UVA. She completed her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. Prior to joining the pre-medical program, she worked as a software engineer in the healthcare technology sector, where she developed user-centered tools to improve patient experience. In her free time, Chloe enjoys drawing, traveling, and learning new languages.
Undergraduate Students
Class of 2026
Grant Atwood
Grant Atwood is a Third 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.
Class of 2028
Katherine Zhang
Katherine Zhang is a First Year undergraduate student (Class of 2028). As a high school student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, she spent one summer in the lab to learn computational biology. She is excited to learn about the applications of computer science in the field of biology and hopes to eventually pursue study in the medical field. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, taking walks with her dog, and volunteer tutoring.
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Associates
| Name | Background | Time at Lab | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qingying Chen, PhD | PhD in Physics, University of Tulsa | 01/2021–06/2024 | Research Associate, UVA |
| Yidan Cong, PhD | PhD in Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 06/2021–02/2022 | Machine Learning Engineer, Big Sur AI |
| Christopher Dampier, MD | MD, University of Michigan; General Surgery Residency, University of Virginia |
07/2019–06/2021 | Clinical Fellow, National Cancer Institute, NIH |
| William F. Lamberti, PhD | PhD in Computational Sciences and Informatics, George Mason University | 01/2021–08/2022 | Assistant Professor, George Mason University |
| Zhenjia Wang, PhD | PhD in Bioinformatics, Shandong University | 01/2017–01/2024 | Scientist, Foundation Medicine |
Graduate Students
| Name | Program | Time at Lab | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yushan (Brandon) Feng | BA/MS in Computer Science/Statistics | 04/2018–05/2019 | Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin |
| 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 |
| Sophie O'Keefe | PhD in Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) (Rotation) | 01/2025–02/2025 | PhD Student in BIMS, UVA |
| 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 | Position after Leaving Lab |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shiyu Jiang | MS in Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University | 01/2024–07/2024 | PhD Student in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Southern California |
| 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/Leaving Lab |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Ibrahim Khanani | SRIP Summer Student; Computer Science, Duke University | 05/2024–08/2024 | Undergraduate Student, Duke University |
| 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 |
| Yanbin Xu | Neuroscience and Statistics | 10/2022–05/2025 | PhD Student in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Miami |
| 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!
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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: June 30, 2025