Guang Yao

What do we do?

We study gene networks that control life and death decisions of cancer cells, and how they differ from normal cells.

What is the goal of our research?

We aim to better understand control mechanisms underlying various cell-fate decisions, and their connections to cancer development and aging, as well as to potential therapeutic strategies.

What is our approach?

We use an integrated approach of high-resolution single-cell experiments and computer modeling. Single-cell experiments can uncover dynamic and heterogeneous behaviors of cancer cells that often get buried in population-average analysis; modeling can help reveal emergent properties of gene networks that are hard to grasp intuitively. As demonstrated in our previous work, the combinatorial approach holds great promise in dissecting complex biological systems like cancer.