Xinan Holly Yang, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
I am a computational biology researcher with expertise in the design, analysis, and interpretation of the vast amounts of data being generated by biologists and translational scientists.
My innovative work has contributed to advancing translational bioinformatics. I am currently working on topological significance analyses of complex regulatory networks in complex diseases or developmental progresses to facilitate the generation of new hypotheses.
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS & TRAINING -- Appreciate all my mentors 
| 9/1990 – 6/1994 | B.S., Radio Techniques Engineering. Southeast University, China | |
| 9/1999 – 3/2002 | M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Southeast University, China | Prof. Xiao Sun |
| 9/2002 – 10/2006 | Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Southeast University, China; Dept. of Computational Molecular Biology, Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany | Profs. Zuhong Lu; Rainer Spang |
| 9/2006 – 12/2008 | Lecturer, State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, Southeast University, China | Profs. Zuhong Lu; Xiao Sun |
| 6/2008 – 3/2010 | Post-Doctoral Scholar, Department of Medicine, Section of Genetic Medicine and Center for Biomedical Informatics, The University of Chicago | Prof. Yves Lussier |
| 4/2010 – 3/2019 | Research Assistant Professor, The University of Chicago | Profs. John Cunningham; Ivan moskowitz; Yves Lussier |
| 4/2019 – | Research Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Chicago |
TRAINEES -- There are no ordinary students; they are 
| Moses Agustin | 6/2026 - 9/2024 | 2024 Summer Research Fellowship, applying machine learning and AI to biological and health sciences | Machine learning in cellular developmental biology Video | Undergraduate, UofC |
| Charmi Desai | 9/2023 - 6/2024 | MS Biomedical Sciences (BMS) program, UofC | R/Python programming Video | CS Master candidate, UofC |
| Megan Wei | 6/2021 - 4/2022 | Bioinfromatics Internship | Bioinfromatics Internship MATLAB programming | Undergraduate, Johns Hopkins |
| Arjun Kinstlick | 4/2020 - 10/2020 | Research Assistant Internship, UofC | Upgraded Python2.7 to Python3 for Seq2pathway R package | Software Engineering Analyst @ Goldman Sachs |
| Ieva Tolkaciovaite | 4/2020 - 9/2020 | Capstone Project Student, UofC, Graham School | Capstone - My 1st R and big data project Video | MD candidate |
| Antonio Feliciano | 6/2019 - 8/2019 | Summer internship, Latin High-school of Chicago | Internship experience in data science Video | Undergraduate, Stanford |
| Qier An | 4/2019 - 9/2019 | Capstone Project Student, UofC, Graham School | R package testing and debugging | Master candidate, UofC |
| Biniam Feleke | 4/2019 - 9/2019 | Capstone Project Student, UofC, Graham School | Building Bioconductor Vignette Video | Bioinformatics Analyst, Q² Solutions |
| Yuxi (Jennifer) Sun | 2/2019 - 4/2022 | Undergraduate volunteer in IT; Micro-Metcalf Program Project, UofC | Updating Bioconductor package Video | Phd candidate in Economics, Princeton Uni. |
| Dannie Griggs | 2/2019 - 9/2019 | BSCD Undergraduate fellow, UofC | Scientific Editting, scRNA-seq data Analysis | |
| Lijia (Leah) Wang | 6/2018 - 9/2018 | BSCD Undergraduate fellow, UofC | Learning R as a beginner Video | Master program in Biostatistics, U Michigan |
| Xiangying Sun | 1/2018 - 6/2018 | IT Programmer, UofC | Chromatin-enriched nuclear RNA-seq analysis Tuxedo-ch | Bioinformatics Scientist, Thermo Fisher |
| Zhezhen Wang | 12/2016 - 10/2019 | Bioinformatican, UofC, Pediatrics | BioTIP R package | Bioinformatican, UofC |
| Carlos Perez-Cervantes | 8/2016 - 8/2017 | Bioinformatican, UofC, Pediatrics | Sequencing data analysis | PhD candidate in Genetics |
| Bin Wang | 2/2014 - 7/2015 | Programmer, UofC, Pediatrics | Seq2pathway R package | Senior Analyst, China Telecom Americas |
| 2003-2005 | German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship |
| 2006-2007 | Guiping Zhang Award for Excellence in Scientific Research and Teaching, Southeast University, China |
| The Best Paper Award in 2007 International Conference on Life System Modeling and Simulation sponsored by IEEE, 9/2007, Shanghai, China | |
| 2009 | The Outstanding Paper in 2009 AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics, March 2009, San Francisco, USA |
| 2010 | The Outstanding Paper in 2010 AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics, March 2010, San Francisco, USA |