Jiekun (Jackie) Yang Headshot Photo

Jiekun (Jackie) Yang, PhD

Principal Investigator

Academic Appointments

Rutgers University, Department of Genetics and Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey · Piscataway, NJ

2024.1 - Present

CV JY 20230704
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Mukta Asnani, PhD

Lab Manager & Research Scientist

  • She is a meticulous and highly skilled molecular biologist with expertise in Oncology, Immunology and Neurological disorders.
  • She is adept at conducting bench experiments, bioassays, drafting scientific papers and mentoring junior colleagues.

2024.1 - Present

Andrew Ramirez, PhD

Postdoc and INSPIRE Scholar

  • He completed his PhD in Bioengineering at UCLA where he developed computational methods for analyzing multi-condition scRNA-seq and identifying cell-cell communication programs
  • He is very interested in applying computational methods to better understand diseases through an immunological perspective using omics-based datasets
  • In his free time, he is an avid TV watcher, loves boba, and enjoys exercising in multiple ways like the gym, running, playing tennis

2026.1 - Present

Xinyu Hu

Ph.D. student in Molecular Biosciences (2023-)

  • He has experience in bioinformatics, analyzing data from RNA-seq, Chip-seq etc, before joining the program.
  • He is interested in single cell bioinformatics analysis and machine learning.

2024.2 - Present

Chuhanwen (Silas) Sun

Ph.D. student in Molecular Biosciences (2025-)

  • He is a first-year PhD student in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG) working on computational biology and bioinformatics.
  • He is passionate about applying quantitative and multi-omics approaches to understand complex human diseases.
  • Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking, weightlifting, and filming photography.

2025.5 - Present

Dalia Gad

Honor's Thesis Student (B.A. in Genetics, expected May 2026)

2024.9 - Present

Mikaela Lijo

Honor's Thesis Student (B.A. in Genetics, expected May 2026)

2025.2 - Present

Pranav Arra

Undergrad Researcher (B.S. in CS and Genetics, expected May 2027)

2025.2 - Present

Mentees From Other Institutions

Rahul Tacke, CS & Biology, Northeastern University (2024.6 - Present)

Lixia Chen Wu, CS Master's Student, Columbia University (2024.10 - Present)

Alumni

Jose Gonzalez, Master's Student at Rutgers (2024.6 - 2026.1)

Jolene Fu, Research Technician at UCSF (2024.3 - 2025.12)

Fengwei Zhan, Ph.D. student in Quantitative Biomedicine at Rutgers (2024.7 - 2025.7)