Dr. Wang obtained her Ph.D. degree in molecular biology at Purdue University and her postdoctoral training in the Center of Human Genetics at Duke University. Her research has focused on understanding the biological basis for common, complex human diseases using ever evolving genomic technologies. She has mapped susceptibility loci for cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, using genome-wide linkage and genome-wide association study designs, examining both copy number variations and single base variants, as well as gene-environment analysis. She has been expanding her research efforts to epigenomic functional analysis and in diverse populations. Her ultimate goals are to understand the functional impact of genetic variants mapped in the genetic studies and to reveal “missing heritability” in the previous genetic studies. To achieve these goals, she has incorporated CRISPR-Cas9 mediated genome editing, extracellular vesicle research, chromatin Hi-C analysis and DNA methylation analysis in ongoing studies.
