YU LAB MEMBERS

Jia-Ray received his PhD from a joint graduate program in Genetics at Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 2015. He conducted his thesis work on TGF-β and small GTPase signaling in lung cancer metastasis at CSHL under Dr. Linda Van Aelst. He then pursued his postdoctoral training in chromatin biology with Dr. Danny Reinberg at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He started his independent research group in 2021 and his lab is interested in mechanisms-based inquiries in cancer and developmental epigenetics and leveraging basic science for translational applications.

Chih-Han (Jeff) received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 2025. His graduate work focused on functional analysis of bacterial toxins and anti-toxins. In Yu lab, Jeff is investigating structure-function regulations of mammalian histone methyltransferases and developing new pharmacological approaches to tackle these enzymes in human pathogentic conditions.

Jeff's publication from Yu Lab:

Tu et al, Epigenetics Reports (2026) (Invited review article)

David received his B.S. in Applied Biomedical Science from UMass Lowell in 2021 and M.S. in Biotechnology from Northeastern University. Prior to joining Yu lab, he worked at Lonza as a process development technician. 

Yinyan received her undergraduate degree in economics and nursing degree from China. Prior to joining Yu lab, she worked at several academica laboratories as a technician.  She is jointly hired with Dr. Liqing Yu's lab at UMB.  

Chen-I received his M.S. in Clinical Medicine from National Cheng-Kung University in 2018, where he studied disease mechanisms of polycystic ovary syndrome. He joined Yu  lab as a technician in 2022 and became a PhD student in 2023. He defended his PhD in 2025. He worked on how the active chromatin state is established in early stem cell differentiation. 

Chen-I's publications from Yu Lab:

Hsu et al, STAR Protocols (2025)

Hsu et al, Cell Reports (2025)

Hsu et al, JoVE (2026) (Invited submission)

Mahnue received her B.S. from Central Connecticut State University in 2021. She attened the PostBac program NIH before joining Yu lab as a lab tech. She worked on generating degron-based system for studying chromatin regulation. 

Mahnue contributed to the following papers from Yu Lab:

Hsu et al, STAR Protocols (2025)

Hsu et al, Cell Reports (2025)

Aastha received her B.S. from India and M.S. from University of Southern California in 2022. She worked at several biotech start up companies before joining Yu lab as a lab tech. She worked on elucidating the biochemical functions of SPIN4. 

Aastha contributed to the following paper from Yu Lab:

Hsu et al, JoVE (2026) (Invited submission)

Brian received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Grove City College  in 2018. Prior to joining Yu lab, he worked at Qiagen in Fredrick, MD as a technician for NGS pipelines before joining Yu Lab.