Ying Zhang Lab

Dr. Ying Zhang

Dr. Ying Zhang is an Associate Professor at the University of RI in Cell and Molecular Biology. Dr. Zhang's lab researches the chemical processes that microorganisms such as single celled organisms or bacteria use to survive.

For example, it is known that gut bacteria help a larger organism to digest the food they've eaten. However, how these bacteria take in food, process it, and break down nutrients for themselves and their host mammal is not well understood yet.

Dr. Zhang's lab works to understand how these roles are carried out at the molecular level and uses computers and software to perform analyses given genomic data. Genomic data comes from extracting all the DNA a cell has and sequencing it. Once the genomic data is collected the lab can analyze the data and make models that propose how the bacteria carry out these processes.

On average Dr. Zhang's lab has 4-5 undergraduates at a time. Some skills that are useful in this lab include: a knowledge of how to code in Linus/Unix operating systems, a strong foundation in biochemistry and bacterial metabolic processes, and proficiency in Microsoft Excel and handling and organizing data.

The major lab interests are:

What dominates the genomic evolution of this class, the preservation of genes from common ancestry or the acquisition of genes from the environment?

How can the presence and absence of genes tell us about the metabolic needs of organisms in the natural environment?

We performed a large-scale comparison of 39 fully sequenced genomes to examine these two questions.

Best to contact through email: yingzhang@mail.uri.edu

Dr. Zhang's lab also has its own lab website that goes more in-depth into the specifics of their research and findings: http://zhanglab.uri.edu/team/