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Ning Sun, PhD

Senior Research Scientist in Biostatistics

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Ning Sun, PhD

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Research Summary

As a research scientist with expertise in mathematical modeling, numerical analysis, and statistical inference, I have focused on the development and applications of statistical methods for biological and biomedical research. My early focus was on the analysis of microarray data to characterize expression profiles in different tissues and developmental stages and reconstruct regulatory networks. Since then, I have focused on developing tools and pipelines for genome wide association studies, and collaborated with research teams to identify genes associated with psychiatric and substance dependence disorders. My current research focuses on statistical genetics and genomics where rich information has become available in the last decade to allow researchers to probe the whole human genome to identify regions associated with common diseases. I am also interested in developing a statistical framework to integrate phenotype information (through ontology matching) and genome wide association results as well as other sources (e.g. literature, functional information) to assess the disease risk for different phenotypes, discover the functional variants causing a disease, and identify the most effective treatment for patients.

Coauthors

Research Interests

Genetics; Statistics; Genomics; Systems Biology; Biostatistics

Public Health Interests

Aging; Cancer; Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics

Selected Publications

  • Genome-wide association study of smoking trajectory and meta-analysis of smoking status in 842,000 individualsXu K, Li B, McGinnis KA, Vickers-Smith R, Dao C, Sun N, Kember RL, Zhou H, Becker WC, Gelernter J, Kranzler HR, Zhao H, Justice AC. Genome-wide association study of smoking trajectory and meta-analysis of smoking status in 842,000 individuals Nature Communications 2020, 11: 5302. PMID: 33082346, PMCID: PMC7598939, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18489-3.
  • Statistical Methods in Genome-Wide Association StudiesSun N, Zhao H. Statistical Methods in Genome-Wide Association Studies Annual Review Of Biomedical Data Science 2020, 3: 1-24. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-030320-041026.
  • Genotyping Array Design and Data Quality Control in the Million Veteran ProgramHunter-Zinck H, Shi Y, Li M, Gorman BR, Ji SG, Sun N, Webster T, Liem A, Hsieh P, Devineni P, Karnam P, Gong X, Radhakrishnan L, Schmidt J, Assimes TL, Huang J, Pan C, Humphries D, Brophy M, Moser J, Muralidhar S, Huang GD, Przygodzki R, Concato J, Gaziano JM, Gelernter J, O’Donnell C, Hauser ER, Zhao H, O’Leary T, Program V, Tsao PS, Pyarajan S. Genotyping Array Design and Data Quality Control in the Million Veteran Program American Journal Of Human Genetics 2020, 106: 535-548. PMID: 32243820, PMCID: PMC7118558, DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.03.004.
  • Genome‐wide association study of cognitive performance in U.S. veterans with schizophrenia or bipolar disorderHarvey PD, Sun N, Bigdeli TB, Fanous AH, Aslan M, Malhotra AK, Lu Q, Hu Y, Li B, Chen Q, Mane S, Miller P, Rajeevan N, Sayward F, Cheung K, Li Y, Greenwood TA, Gur RE, Braff DL, on the Genetics of Schizophrenia C, Brophy M, Pyarajan S, O'Leary TJ, Gleason T, Przygodszki R, Muralidhar S, Gaziano JM, Concato J, Zhao H, Siever LJ. Genome‐wide association study of cognitive performance in U.S. veterans with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder American Journal Of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics 2019, 183: 181-194. PMID: 31872970, DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32775.
  • GENOMICS OF SUICIDAL IDEATION AND BEHAVIOR IN VETERANS WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESSHarvey P, Bigdeli T, Fanous A, Aslan M, Sun N, Zhao H. GENOMICS OF SUICIDAL IDEATION AND BEHAVIOR IN VETERANS WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS European Neuropsychopharmacology 2019, 29: s34. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2019.07.069.
  • Genome-wide association study of post-traumatic stress disorder reexperiencing symptoms in >165,000 US veteransGelernter J, Sun N, Polimanti R, Pietrzak R, Levey DF, Bryois J, Lu Q, Hu Y, Li B, Radhakrishnan K, Aslan M, Cheung KH, Li Y, Rajeevan N, Sayward F, Harrington K, Chen Q, Cho K, Pyarajan S, Sullivan PF, Quaden R, Shi Y, Hunter-Zinck H, Gaziano JM, Concato J, Zhao H, Stein MB. Genome-wide association study of post-traumatic stress disorder reexperiencing symptoms in >165,000 US veterans Nature Neuroscience 2019, 22: 1394-1401. PMID: 31358989, PMCID: PMC6953633, DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0447-7.
  • S93. GENOMICS OF SUICIDAL IDEATION AND BEHAVIOR IN VETERANS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND BIPOLAR ILLNESSHarvey P, Aslan M, Sun N, Zhao H, Concato J. S93. GENOMICS OF SUICIDAL IDEATION AND BEHAVIOR IN VETERANS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND BIPOLAR ILLNESS Schizophrenia Bulletin 2019, 45: s342-s342. PMCID: PMC6455790, DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz020.638.
  • M25 GENETICS OF COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND BIPOLAR DISORDERHarvey P, Harvey P, Sun N, Lu Q, Lu Q, Hu Y, Hu Y, Li B, Chen Q, Chen Q, Aslan M, Radhakrishnan K, Radhakrishnan K, Cheung K, Li Y, Li Y, Sayward F, Rajeevan N, Zhao H, Gaziano M, Gaziano M, Concato J, Concato J. M25 GENETICS OF COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND BIPOLAR DISORDER European Neuropsychopharmacology 2019, 29: s967-s968. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2017.08.332.
  • STUDIES ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE GENETICS FROM YALE-PENN AND THE MVPGelernter J, Sun N, Polimanti R, Zhou H, Levey D, Harrington K, Gaziano M, Pyarajan S, Aslan M, Sayward F, Li B, Farrer L, Zhao H, Concato J, Stein M. STUDIES ON ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE GENETICS FROM YALE-PENN AND THE MVP European Neuropsychopharmacology 2019, 29: s1035-s1036. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.07.032.
  • RESULTS FROM THE USVA MVP PTSD COOPERATIVE STUDY GWAS: PCL TRAITSGelernter J, Sun N, Polimanti R, Zhou H, Pietrzak R, Levey D, Harrington K, Gaziano M, Pyarajan S, Radhakrishnan K, Hu Y, Li B, Zhao H, Concato J, Stein M. RESULTS FROM THE USVA MVP PTSD COOPERATIVE STUDY GWAS: PCL TRAITS European Neuropsychopharmacology 2019, 29: s1055-s1056. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.07.071.
  • 159. GWAS of PTSD Re-experiencing Symptoms in the VA Million Veteran ProgramStein M, Gelernter J, Zhao H, Sun N, Pietrzak R, Harrington K, Cho K, Honerlaw J, Quaden R, Gaziano J, Concato J, MVP M. 159. GWAS of PTSD Re-experiencing Symptoms in the VA Million Veteran Program Biological Psychiatry 2018, 83: s64-s65. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.02.177.
  • Arabidopsis SAURs are critical for differential light regulation of the development of various organsSun N, Wang J, Gao Z, Dong J, He H, Terzaghi W, Wei N, Deng XW, Chen H. Arabidopsis SAURs are critical for differential light regulation of the development of various organs Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2016, 113: 6071-6076. PMID: 27118848, PMCID: PMC4889401, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1604782113.
  • Putting things in orderSun N, Zhao H. Putting things in order Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2014, 111: 16236-16237. PMID: 25380598, PMCID: PMC4246324, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1418862111.
  • Bayesian Methods in Genomics and Proteomics StudiesSun N, Zhao H. Bayesian Methods in Genomics and Proteomics Studies 2010, 125-136. DOI: 10.1002/9780470669716.ch6.
  • Trends and Statistical Challenges in Genomewide Association StudiesSun N, Zhao H. Trends and Statistical Challenges in Genomewide Association Studies 2010, 283-308. DOI: 10.1002/9780470567647.ch12.
  • A transcriptome atlas of rice cell types uncovers cellular, functional and developmental hierarchiesJiao Y, Lori Tausta S, Gandotra N, Sun N, Liu T, Clay NK, Ceserani T, Chen M, Ma L, Holford M, Zhang HY, Zhao H, Deng XW, Nelson T. A transcriptome atlas of rice cell types uncovers cellular, functional and developmental hierarchies Nature Genetics 2009, 41: 258-263. PMID: 19122662, DOI: 10.1038/ng.282.
  • The promise of systems biology for deciphering the control of C 4 leaf development: transcriptome profiling of leaf cell typesNelson T, Tausta S, Gandotra N, Liu T, Ceserani T, Chen M, Jiao Y, Ma L, Deng X, Sun N, Holfold M, Li N, Zhao H. The promise of systems biology for deciphering the control of C 4 leaf development: transcriptome profiling of leaf cell types 2008, 317-332. DOI: 10.1142/9789812709523_0018.
  • Identifying Stage-Specific Genes by Combining Information from Two Different Types of Oligonucleotide ArraysLiu Y, Sun N, Liu J, Chen L, McIntosh M, Zheng L, Zhao H. Identifying Stage-Specific Genes by Combining Information from Two Different Types of Oligonucleotide Arrays 2007, 59-74. DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-34569-7_5.
  • Bayesian error analysis model for reconstructing transcriptional regulatory networksSun N, Carroll RJ, Zhao H. Bayesian error analysis model for reconstructing transcriptional regulatory networks Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2006, 103: 7988-7993. PMID: 16702552, PMCID: PMC1472417, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0600164103.
  • Genomic approaches in dissecting complex biological pathwaysSun N, Zhao H. Genomic approaches in dissecting complex biological pathways Pharmacogenomics 2004, 5: 163-179. PMID: 15016608, DOI: 10.1517/phgs.5.2.163.27488.
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