News

August: Dr. Yu won the position of the Vice President-Elect of the Society of Basic Urological Research (SBUR). Congratulations!

August: Our paper, published in Nature Genetics, was featured in Emory News and Winship Weekly. It was also highlighted as a featured case study by Arima Genomics for our mapping of 4D nucleome to decipher mechanisms underlying prosate cancer transformation.

August: Georgia Tech Bioinformatics PhD students Ramin Yousefpour Shahrivar, Mohan Zheng and Emory University Biostatistics PhD students Yujing Liu joined lab as graduate students. Welcome Ramin, Mohan and Yujing!

July: New paper led by co-first authors Xiaodong Lu and Viriya Keo was published in Nature Genetics. NKX2-1 drives neuroendocrine transdifferentiation of prostate cancer via epigenetic and 3D chromatin remodeling. Congratulations on this masterpiece of work - a milestone made possible by a close collaboration between the labs of Computational biologist Dr. Jonathan Zhao and Cancer Biologist Dr. Jindan Yu.

June: PhD graduate students Lourdes Brea and Viriya Keo participated in the 2025 Graduate School Hooding Ceremony in Evanston, where they were personally hooded by Dr. Yu in recognition of their Ph.D. degree award from Northwestern University. Congratulations Luly and Viriya!

April: All lab members attended Urology department retreat. Many thanks to the Yu lab members who volunteered in the retreat! Dr. Liu Peng was selected from all abstracts to give an oral presentation on her research work. Dr. Hongshun Shi was awarded the best poster presentation. Dr. Xiaodong Lu was selected to receive Urology Basic Science Research Dedication Award. Congratulations!

January: Que Nguyen and Yinghua Xie joined lab as postdocs. Hana Chandonnet joined as program manager. Welcome Que, Yinghua and Hana!

January: New review paper written by graduate student Luly Brea and Dr. Yu was published in Trends Endocrinol Metab, Tumor-intrinsic regulators of the immune-cold microenvironment of prostate cancer.

September: Dr. Jonathan Zhao and Dr. Jindan Yu received a new R01 award to study the molecular mechanisms underlying neuroendocrine transformation of prostate cancer. This comes after 10 years of exploring new concepts and developing new models. Congratulations on a new forefront of the group’s endeavor!

September: Dr. Jindan Yu, in partnership with Dr. Gary Shiltz (Northwestern University) received a new R01 award to develop EZH2-targeting therapeutics and understand non-canonical functions of EZH2. Congratulations on the continuous and persistent pursuit of EZH2, a founding research program of the group!

January: Dr. Yu was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) 

June: A new paper led by research fellow Dr. Zhuoyuan Lin is published in Oncogene. Palmitoyl acyltransferase ZDHHC7 inhibits androgen receptor and suppresses prostate cancer.

June: A new paper led by Northwestern University DGP graduate student Galina Gritsina is published in Journal of Clinical Investigation. Chemokine receptor CXCR7 activates Aurora Kinase A and promotes neuroendocrine prostate cancer growth.

May 15: Dr. Yu commented on ferroptosis in cancer, published in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

March: A beautiful review of CXCR7 in advanced prostate cancer written by graduate student Galina Gritsina and Dr. Yu is published in Oncogene.

March 1: J. Yu lab moved to Emory University after nearly 14 years of presence at the Northwestern University.

December 1: New paper published in Mol Cell: PALI1 promotes tumor growth through competitive recruitment of PRC2 to G9A-target chromatin for dual epigenetic silencing.

August 5: New paper published in Oncogene: FOXA1 inhibits hypoxia programs through transcriptional repression of HIF1A.

May 10: Feinberg School of Medicine news: New Regulator of Prostate Cancer Metastasis Discovered.

April 25: Milestone Achievement! New paper published in Nature Genetics: HOXB13 suppresses de novo lipogenesis through HDAC3-mediated epigenetic reprogramming in prostate cancer.

March 22: New postdoc Dr. Ahmad Hasan Othman started in the lab. Welcome, Ahmad!

January 3: New postdoc Dr. Najma Shaheen started in the lab. Welcome, Najma!

September 7: New postdoc Dr. Hongshun Shi started in the lab. Welcome, Hongshun!

August 4: New paper published in Oncogene: Going beyond Polycomb: EZH2 functions in prostate cancer.

July 1: Dr. Shivani Agarwal joined us as a Research Assistant Professor. Welcome, Shivani!

June 1: Sophia Marie Lamperis joined the lab as a DGP graduate student. Welcome, Sophia!

April 20: Feinberg School of Medicine news: Uncovering the Function of Prostate Cancer Protein.

April 7: New paper published in Science Advances: Posttranslational regulation of FOXA1 by Polycomb and BUB3/USP7 deubiquitin complex in prostate cancer.

February 1: New postdoc Dr. Jawad Akhtar joined us from Lahore University of Management Sciences. Welcome, Jawad!

December 11: Dr. Kevin Park has graduated and joined Pfizer. Congratulations, Kevin!

November 30: New postdoc Dr. Wanqing Xie started in the lab. Welcome, Wanqing!

August 19: New paper published in Nature Communications: Histone methyltransferase DOT1L coordinates AR and MYC stability in prostate cancer.

August 14: New paper published in Science Advances: Epithelial cell-specific loss of function of Miz1 causes a spontaneous COPD-like phenotype and up-regulates Ace2 expression in mice.

December 1: Dr. Zhuoyuan Lin joined the lab as a visiting scholar. Welcome, Zhuoyuan!

August 28: New paper published in Oncogene: BMI1 is directly regulated by androgen receptor to promote castration-resistance in prostate cancer.

August 1: New postdocs Dr. Ezinne Mong and Dr. Fang Wang joined us. Welcome!

July 19: New paper published in Cell Research: Altered chromatin recruitment by FOXA1 mutations promotes androgen independence and prostate cancer progression.

July 1: New paper published in Journal of Clinical Investigation: N-Myc-mediated epigenetic reprogramming drives lineage plasticity in advanced prostate cancer.

May 1: Lourdes Brea joined the lab as a DGP graduate student. Welcome, Luly!

April 25: New paper published in American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Urology: Immune modulatory functions of EZH2 in the tumor microenvironment: implications in cancer immunotherapy.

April 5: New paper published in Cancer Research: Activation of MAPK signaling by CXCR7 leads to enzalutamide resistance in prostate cancer.

March 29: New paper published in Asian J Androl: Transcriptional repression by androgen receptor: roles in castration-resistant prostate cancer.

March 14: Feinberg School of Medicine Research Newsletter: Uncovering Genetic and Epigenetic Pathways to Prostate Cancer.

January 23: Feinberg School of Medicine news: Study Suggests New Strategy to Treat Advanced Prostate Cancer.