About the Winner
His pioneering contributions to explaining the role played by non-coding RNAs in the regulation and function of genes. His development of innovative means to identify regulatory sites within deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These discoveries have had a very important impact on the field of molecular biology and genetics, and have an important role in understanding complex human diseases.
The biography
Professor Howard Yuan-Hao Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on January 11, 1972. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College (1994), his doctorate in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998), and his Ph.D. Medicine from Harvard Medical School (2000). Prof. Zhang completed his dermatology residency and postdoctoral training at Stanford University. In 2004, he joined the faculty at Stanford University, and in 2011 he was promoted to the rank of professor in both the Department of Dermatology and the Department of Genetics. He is currently the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research at Stanford University, director of the Center for Personal Dynamic Systems at Stanford University, and a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Professor Zhang’s research has uncovered previously unknown information and the logic of the non-coding genome, which makes up 98 percent of human DNA, as well as the RNA and DNA switches. He also discovered a new class of genes called long non-coding RNAs that can control gene activity throughout the genome, shedding light on a new layer of biological regulation. Prof. Zhang invented an accessible chromatin assay with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) and multiple new methods to identify DNA regulatory elements at the genome level and in single cells. These switches determine when and where genes are turned on and off, and RNA switches have revealed Mechanisms and targets of a large number of human diseases, most notably cancer, immunity, and development. Professor Dr. Zhang’s recent studies of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in cancer have shown that ecDNA is widespread, arises early in cancer, and represents a profound defect in cancer. Epigenetic regulation leading to tumor heterogeneity, overproduction of oncogenes, and drug resistance. The long-term goal of his research is to decipher regulatory information in the genome to benefit human health.
Professor Dr. Zhang is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Chang’s awards include the US National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, the Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute, the Paul Marks Award for Cancer Research, the Judson Daland Award from the American Philosophical Association, and the Vilcek Award for Promising Creativity. Professor Dr. Zhang’s research study was recognized by the journal Cell as the most outstanding research of the past 40 years and by Science as a “Vision of the Decade.”
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