Assistant Professor @UPenn | Study epigenetics, gene regulation and cancer | views my own
Philadelphia
Joined September 2017
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That’s a wrap on our @ForbeckForums on Nuclear Condensates in Cancer! Amazing group, fantastic science, and thought-provoking discussions in beautiful Pacific Grove! A great pleasure co-organizing this with @bsabari. Many thanks to @ForbeckForums for making this possible!
Departmental trainee seminar kickoff + Outstanding Publication Awards! Congrats to postdoc winner Diqiu (@junwei_s lab), and graduate student winner Krista from my lab! Read Krista’s paper on RNA-reinforced condensate nucleation cell.com/molecular-cell/full… @Penn_CBIO
Good news from lab: Congrats to Steph on a T32 award; Qinglan on a Marlene Shlomchik Fellowship in Cancer Research; Amba & Amanda did an excellent job presenting posters for summer projects; and Krista on defending her thesis and becoming our first Ph.D. graduate! 🎉 #PoundPI
Four inspiring days at the FASAB Biological Acetylation in Health and Disease Conference in Porto. Great science, stimulating discussions, and wonderful interactions with many colleagues, old and new. Looking forward to seeing everyone again in 2028! #BAHSRC
Excited to share that our preprint 'RNA reinforces condensate nucleation on chromatin to amplify oncogenic transcription' is now online @MolecularCell cell.com/molecular-cell/full… @PennMedCSO @PennCancer @PennEpiInst
(1/n) Excited to share our new preprint! We uncover that RNA actively promotes nucleation and function of pathogenic condensates, amplifying locus-specific oncogenic transcription and promoting tumorigenesis. #epigenetics #condensates #cancer #RNA biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Join us Aug 3–6 in Porto for the #FASEB Biological Acetylation Conference! great lineup spanning #chromatin #epigenetics #metabolism #cancer and drug development! keynotes by Asifa Akhtar and Shelley Berger! #BAHSRC2026 events.faseb.org/event/biolo…
Heading to San Diego for #AACR26! excited to present our latest work on condensates at the Major Symposium on chromatin, epigenetics, and cancer, alongside leaders in the field @TheRobertsLab1 @Armstrong_dfci. Come join the discussion if you’re interested! @PennMedicine
A short but wonderful visit at UCSF - thanks to Xiaokun @ShuLab2010 and Danica for the invitation to share our work on #epigenetics #condensates #cancer and to friends (old and new) for the great discussion! And so glad I made it home before the snowstorm shut everything down
(7/n) We propose that pathogenic condensates exploit RNA to reinforce locus-specific nucleation and amplify transcriptional programs that drive disease. This may set them apart from normal condensates which may be more sensitive to RNA-mediated negative feedback.
(6/n) Does this matter functionally? In leukemogenesis models, ENLmut deficient in RNA binding fail to form condensate at and activate key oncogenic targets and cannot initiate leukemia in mice.
(5/n) Notably, RNA binding preferentially enhances ENL occupancy and transcriptional bursting at top-bound, condensate-permissive loci without affecting general chromatin binding property, thus amplifying locus-specific gene expression.
(4/n) Using a chemically inducible displacement + wash-off system, we visualize and quantitatively show that efficient re-nucleation of ENL condensates at the endogenous target HOXA requires both transcription (RNA synthesis) and RNA binding.
(3/n) We now show that ENL binds RNA via its YEATS domain. This interaction enhances condensate formation in vitro and across diverse cell types. Specifically disrupting RNA binding reduces ENLmut condensate formation and chromatin engagement at highly selective genomic targets.
Thrilled to receive the Tony Hunter Award (Junior Investigator) from the Association of Chinese Americans in Cancer Research and to present our work alongside senior awardee Dr. Chuan He. Proud to be part of this amazing community! #immigrant #CancerResearch @PennMedCSO
Had a great time visiting Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and sharing our work on chromatin mechanisms in cancer! Huge thanks to @JunQiLab for the invitation and generous hosting. So much fun reconnecting with mentor & old friends, making new ones, & a full day of amazing science!
