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Hello, wellcome to my website. I'm Fan Hong (CV). Currently, I'm a postdoctoral fellow at Wyss Institute/Harvard University and the Department of System Biology at Harvard Medical School in the molecular system lab with Dr. Peng Yin. I was a graduate student at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, and fortunate to work in the Yan Lab, Green Lab and Sulc Lab with Dr Hao Yan, Dr. Alexander Green, and Dr. Petr Sulc. My research is in a highly interdisciplinary area, but focusing on the nucleic acid folding and design across different scales.
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My long-term goal is to decode and manipulate complex biological systems with designed biomolecular tools. Biological systems are composed of billions of molecules (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins) to encode different layers of information. The molecular system in the complex biological environment is the cornerstone to understanding life and developing cutting-edge technologies to advance human health.
I'll implement DNA/RNA design to develop biomolecular tools to interact and visualize biological systems, more specifically in three directions: (1) Develop new design rules to control the nucleic acid folding and dynamics, and understand the nucleic acid sequence to structure and function with experimental (high throughput sequencing and biochemistry assay) and computational approaches (e.g., neural networks and molecular dynamics) from sequence to structure and function, and vice versa (NAR 2020, JACS 2018, Angewandte Chemie 2017); (2) Programming cell fates with computationally de-novo designed RNA machines to sense cellular cues and regulate gene expression via mRNA's dynamic folding (Cell 2020) and collective assemblies in vivo. Those dynamic folding and self-assembly of RNA in cellular environment will be used to study the disease mechanisms (e.g., intrinsic disordered aggregates) and develop novel therapeutics (e.g., controlled mRNA drug expression); (3) Decoding cell/tissue function and disease mechanism at system level with massive molecular information (e.g., spatial genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) in situ resolved by DNA advanced molecular imaging tools.
Those developed bimolecular tools finally will be used for therapeutics and diagnostics, such as mRNA vaccine, diagnostics and treatment for cancer and neuron degenerative diseases, also in digital pathologies for FFPE samples. I believe integrating molecular programmability with biology will lead to lots of transformative research in the near future in many sub-areas.
I'll implement DNA/RNA design to develop biomolecular tools to interact and visualize biological systems, more specifically in three directions: (1) Develop new design rules to control the nucleic acid folding and dynamics, and understand the nucleic acid sequence to structure and function with experimental (high throughput sequencing and biochemistry assay) and computational approaches (e.g., neural networks and molecular dynamics) from sequence to structure and function, and vice versa (NAR 2020, JACS 2018, Angewandte Chemie 2017); (2) Programming cell fates with computationally de-novo designed RNA machines to sense cellular cues and regulate gene expression via mRNA's dynamic folding (Cell 2020) and collective assemblies in vivo. Those dynamic folding and self-assembly of RNA in cellular environment will be used to study the disease mechanisms (e.g., intrinsic disordered aggregates) and develop novel therapeutics (e.g., controlled mRNA drug expression); (3) Decoding cell/tissue function and disease mechanism at system level with massive molecular information (e.g., spatial genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) in situ resolved by DNA advanced molecular imaging tools.
Those developed bimolecular tools finally will be used for therapeutics and diagnostics, such as mRNA vaccine, diagnostics and treatment for cancer and neuron degenerative diseases, also in digital pathologies for FFPE samples. I believe integrating molecular programmability with biology will lead to lots of transformative research in the near future in many sub-areas.
