Allison Yang

Pronouns: she/her

Current Research Project: ​​During pregnancy, the outer layer of the placenta forms a singular multinucleated cell called the syncytiotrophoblast (STB), which serves as the interface between mother and fetus. While the STB contains billions of nuclei, the mechanism behind the differentiation of its nuclear subtypes remains poorly understood. In the Gladfelter lab, I use RNA velocity on scRNA and snRNA placental datasets to study how gene expression changes over pseudotime, alongside gene network analysis to identify transcription factors. Eventually, we also intend to apply ATAC-seq to uncover epigenetic regulators of transcription. Long-term, I hope to pursue a PhD in computational biology or biostatistics, working in both wet and dry lab.

How she got involved with research: I first got involved in research by cold emailing professors during my freshman spring, eventually joining an immunology lab. As a SPIRE fellow, I was given the opportunity to present my work at ABRCMS 2024. Presenting my research to immunology experts and hearing from PI’s and researchers across the nation both gave me confidence in presenting research but also in pursuing research myself. The following summer, I attended the NIH’s Summer Institute in Biostatistics & Data Science, which introduced me to computational and clinical research. That experience ultimately led me to my current project in computational biology.