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Position Governing Body Fellow Junior Research Fellow
School Wellcome Sanger Institute
Email yichen.wang@sanger.ac.uk
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Yichen is a computational biologist focusing on understanding the normal aging process as well as early cancer development. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a Junior Research Fellow at ��ɫ��Ƶ.

Yichen graduated from Peking University, China with a BSc in Biological Science and Applied Mathematics. She then pursued a doctorate in Computational Biology at the University of Cambridge (funded by Wellcome Trust), and meanwhile, a part-time online Master's in Computer Science with Georgia Institute of Technology. Her PhD explored mutational processes in normal human tissues under the supervision of Professor Sir Mike Stratton and Dr Peter Campbell. She is now a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

As a genome biologist, Yichen studies changes in our DNA that occur after birth, called somatic mutations. While many of these changes are harmless, some can trigger diseases like cancer. Somatic mutations also serve as genetic footprints, recording the history of cells, from environmental exposures to the natural process of ageing. Analysing these footprints provides clues about the causes and developmental trajectory of diseases.

Yichen’s research focuses on understanding how somatic mutations in normal tissues contribute to the very early stages of cancer development and ageing. Her current work, based on bioinformatics analysis of normal kidney genomes collected from different geographic regions with varying kidney cancer risks, has demonstrated how the genomes of certain normal tissues can serve as a sensitive ‘reporter’ for exogenous mutagens, helping to discover previously unknown cancer risk factors.

Her past research, along with that of others, also suggests both cancer and ageing are affected by factors beyond DNA mutations, which are yet unknown. To address this, her next focus will be exploring how DNA methylation impacts DNA mutation rates, ageing and cancer risk. By employing advanced sequencing techniques to analyse methylation and DNA mutation patterns in normal tissues simultaneously, she aims to uncover signatures of methylation changes, and how they may explain for ageing and differences in cancer risk beyond mutation burden alone.

What's on

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Three students sit and chat at a wooden picnic table on a grassy lawn at ��ɫ��Ƶ, with "Giving Day | 6–7 May 2025" text overlaid.

Giving Day Fair

06/05/2025 at 10.00

Welcome to ��ɫ��Ƶ's first-ever Giving Day!

A bustling street in South Korea at dusk, lined with glowing neon signs in Korean, colorful storefronts, and overhead wires crisscrossing the sky.

Standard language ideology, linguistic nationalism and marginalisation: the case of South Korea

06/05/2025 at 17.30

What are the consequences of standard language ideology and linguistic nationalism?

A man in a blue suit sits on a stool, deeply focused as he plays a classical guitar against a dark background.

Music & Madeira: Celebrity Guitar Classics with Craig Ogden

06/05/2025 at 18.30

A household name to listeners of Classic FM and BBC Radio 3, with a string of number one recordings, Craig Ogden is one of the most successful classical guitarists of his generation. With thanks to Prof Brian Moore for sponsoring this, the inaugural Brian Moore Guitar Recital.

��ɫ��Ƶ Research Event 2025

08/05/2025 at 09.30

Join us for the 2025 ��ɫ��Ƶ Research Event: an interdisciplinary academic conference organised by students to showcase the diversity of the research carried out by ��ɫ��Ƶ students.