Computational Spatial and Single-Cell Multi-Omics
Our research group is innovating analytical and experimental workflows of transcriptomic and chromatin analyses in single cells and within spatial contexts of the tissue, to dissect the intricate relationships between genes, cells and tissues.
Our research group mainly follows three directions:
Our research seeks to understand how cellular identities emerge, evolve, and adapt across development, homeostasis, and disease. By combining single-cell and spatial genomics, computational modeling, organoid systems, and functional perturbations, we investigate several interconnected questions:
We integrate large-scale published and newly generated single-cell and spatial datasets to construct consensus cellular atlases of human organs. Current efforts include developing a comprehensive human kidney cell atlas, a human erythropoiesis map, and integrated lung atlases that provide community resources for studying tissue development, injury, regeneration, and disease.
We combine atlas integration, comparative genomics, spatial transcriptomics, human and non-human primate lung organoids, multi-omic profiling, and perturbation-based approaches to reconstruct lung development across species. By comparing conserved and divergent programs, we seek to identify regulatory circuits that control lineage specification, tissue maturation, developmental plasticity, and evolutionary innovation in the human lung.
We study congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) and related developmental disorders to understand how mis-specified cellular identities and disrupted developmental trajectories contribute to abnormal tissue architecture and disease pathogenesis.
Using kidney and prostate cancer as model systems, we investigate how regulatory programs are reconfigured during tumor initiation, progression, and adaptation. We aim to identify the molecular mechanisms that drive tumor cell plasticity, microenvironmental interactions, and disease evolution.
We seek to understand how neuroendocrine cell states emerge, diversify, and adapt to local tissue environments during tumor evolution. By tracing cellular trajectories and regulatory programs, we aim to uncover the mechanisms underlying neuroendocrine tumor heterogeneity and adaptation.
We develop computational methods that leverage foundation models and machine learning to address fundamental challenges in single-cell and spatial genomics. Current efforts include building more precise data integration frameworks to overcome batch effects, improving cross-study and cross-species atlas construction, and developing automated analysis systems for single-cell RNA-seq and chromatin accessibility datasets.
We develop ultra-sensitive single-cell and spatial genomic technologies to improve the detection of rare cell populations, transient developmental states, and regulatory events that are difficult to capture using existing methods.
17-tissue bulk RNA-seq study of organogenesis from e10.5 to P0; Immune-neural dominance; 34 major gene programs with TF-motif networks; Rest/NRSF regulated H3K27me3 de-repression; House-keeping gene transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation; scRNA-seq of mouse limb development; Epigenomic annotation; Gene regulatory network inference from single-cell + multi-omic sequencing data. GitHub
scRNA-seq map of 144 human fetal lung cell populations from 5 to 22 weeks post conception; Matched scATAC-seq and motif mapping; Proximal and distal niches with distinct fibroblasts; Organoid gain-of-function screen; Novel NEUROD1+ GHRL+ neuroendocrine lineage that mirrors Type-N small cell lung cancer. GitHub
scRNA-seq mapping of human embryonic limb from 5 to 9 weeks post conception; Visium-based Whole-tissue atlasing; Spatial axes regulators; Digit regulators tied to congenital limb syndromes; Two waves of muscle development with key regulators like MSC; Mice and humans integrated cell atlas. GitHub
Temporal single-cell multiome (scBCR/αβTCR/γδTCR and CITE-seq) mapping of immune cells in the prenatal lung; non-productive TCR-based lymphoid lineage inference; B-1 cells and myeloids in the lung; ILC2 and NK dominance; T cell maturation after birth; Myeloid-epithelial interaction via IL-1β; Organoid scRNA-seq after IL1ß and IL13 induction. GitHub
| Tissue Type | Fetal lung | Fetal lung | Lung organoid | Lung organoid | Lung organoid | Lung organoid | Embryonic Limb | Embryonic Limb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specific data | Human fetal lung | Human fetal lung immune | Human TF OE tip organoid | Human IL1B IL13 tip organoid | Human fetal lung late tip organoid | Human fetal lung AT2 organoid | Human embryonic limb | Mouse embryonic limb |
| Study | 2022 Cell | 2023 Sci. Immunol. | 2022 Cell | 2023 Sci. Immunol. | 2023 Cell Stem Cell | 2025 EMBOJ | 2023 Nature | 2020 Nature,2023 Nature |
| scRNA-seq | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| scATAC-seq | ✅ | |||||||
| abTCR scRNA-seq | ✅ | ✅ | ||||||
| gdTCR scRNA-seq | ✅ | ✅ | ||||||
| BCR scRNA-seq | ✅ | ✅ | ||||||
| scCITE-seq | ✅ | |||||||
| Visium | ✅ | ✅ | ||||||
| Xenium | ✅ |
Conceptual unification of explicitly modeled Class I (data cleaning) and implicitly corrected Class II (integration) batch effects. Six methodological subclasses (comparative table). Hypothetical multidimensional gene–cell relationship model. Bottleneck identification → actionable directions for interpretable frameworks with higher precision. Long-term vision: progressive conversion of Class II uncertainty into Class I definable artifacts.
Affiliate Assistant Professor
UCLA (PhD, MSc)
Jinan U (BEng)
Visiting Professor Emeritus
U of Illinois (MD)
UCSF (PhD)
Postdoctoral Researcher
Queen Mary (PhD)
U of Athens (MD)
Oxford U (MSc)
🏅 UCSF Graduate Mentoring Award (2026)
Postdoctoral Researcher
Columbia U (PhD)
Fudan U (MSc, BSc)
PhD Student
Harvard U (MSc)
UCSD (BSc)
Co-advised with Dr. Theodoris
Junior Specialist
Imperial (MSc)
CUHK-Shenzhen (BSc)
Facility Manager
Managing laboratory infrastructure and resources
Administrative Assistant
Managing administrative operations
Visiting Software Engineer
San Jose State U (BSc)
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Undergraduate URAP Student
UC Berkeley
Visiting Researcher
San Jose State U (MSc)
Vellore Institute (MSc)
VNSGU Surat (BSc)
Visiting Graduate Student
Stanford (MSc)
Southern Medical U (MBBS)
Visiting Undergraduate Student
Xiamen U (MBBS)
Visiting Undergraduate Student
Southern U of Science and Technology
Visiting Undergraduate Student
UC Berkeley (Exchange Student)
CUHK-Shenzhen (BSc)
High School Intern
Milpitas High School
Illustrator
| Name | Previous Role | Institution | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faye Orcales | BMI rotation student | UCSF | |
| Zoe (Xintong) Chen | BMI rotation student | UCSF | Yin Shen Lab, UCSF |
| Zuzhi Jiang | Tetrad rotation student | UCSF | Zev Gartner Lab, UCSF |
| Christopher He | DSCB student (Thesis exam committee) | UCSF | Param Priya Singh Lab, UCSF |
| Madison Lotstein | BMS student (Thesis committee) | UCSF | Gabriela Fragiadakis Lab, UCSF |
| Jayden Ross | BMS student (Thesis committee) | UCSF | Elizabeth Crouch Lab, UCSF |
| Jerry Wang | BMS student (Thesis committee) | UCSF | Ethan Winkler Lab, UCSF |
| Paul Leclerc | BMS student (Quaifying exam committee) | UCSF | Max Krummel Lab & Alexis Combes Lab, UCSF |
| Rashad Reid Jr | BMI student (Quaifying exam committee) | UCSF | Diego Calderon Lab, UCSF |
| Sanjay Rangavajjhala | BMI student (Quaifying exam committee) | UCSF | Gabriela Fragiadakis Lab, UCSF |
| Sara Smith | BMI student (Quaifying exam committee and QBC journal club) | UCSF | Gabriela Fragiadakis Lab, UCSF |
| Sid Mahesh | BMI student (Quaifying exam committee) | UCSF | David Quigley Lab, UCSF |
| Wenxi Zhang | Tetrad student (Qualifying exam committee) | UCSF | Greg Allen Lab, UCSF |
| Alexander Ho | BMI student (QBC journal club) | UCSF | |
| Izabella Zamora | BMI student (QBC journal club) | UCSF | |
| Xinwei Li | Visiting Researcher | U of Queensland | MSc student, Health Data Science program, UCSF (starting Fall 2026) |
| Peijun Liu | Master student | UCSF | Research Associate at NCIRE |
| Jaeeun Park | Undergraduate URAP student | UC Berkeley; Yonsei U | |
| Cheuk Ki (Jacky) Wong | Undergraduate URAP Student | UC Berkeley | |
| Chawit Asavasaetakul | Undergraduate URAP Student | UC Berkeley | Co-Founder of Avoice (YC W26) |
| Nathan Kuo | Undergraduate URAP Student | UC Berkeley | |
| Selina Shi | Undergraduate URAP Student | UC Berkeley | |
| Alex Sun | Undergraduate URAP Student | UC Berkeley | Software Engineer at Talroo |
| Dan Zhang | Remote PhD student visitor | Xi'an Jiaotong U; Sanger Institute | Postdoc at Sanger with Jussi Taipale |
| Weimin Lin | Remote PhD student visitor | Sichuan U; Gurdon Institute | Postdoc at Cambridge U with Sarah Teichmann |
| John Lawrence | Clinical PhD Student | Sanger (Teichmann Lab) | NIHR Clinical Lecturer at Cambridge U |
| Hanchen Wang | PhD Student | Cambridge U (St Edmund's College) | Postdoc at Genentech with Aviv Regev |
| Simon Murray | Bioinformatics Apprentice | Sanger (CellgenIT and Teichmann Lab) | Bioinformatics Engineer at Genomics England |
| Austin Reed | Research Assistant | CRUK (Khaled Lab and Marioni Lab) | CEO and Co-founder at IntercepTx |
| Won Jun Kim | Undergraduate Research Assistant | Caltech (Wold Lab) | MD-PhD student at Tri-I |
Kostas birthday celebration 2026
Kostas won the UCSF Graduate Mentoring Award 2026 – thanks to his dedication and Yuefei's nomination!
Yuefei birthday celebration 2026
Winter holiday dinner 2025
UC Botanic Garden trip 2025
Monterey retreat 2025
Angel Island Hiking 2025
Ferry Building Market 2025
Birthday Celebration 2025
ImmunoX Social 2025
Lands End Hiking 2025
Spring Lunch 2025
I am happy to provide PDFs for any paper listed here upon email request.
We are currently seeking enthusiastic researchers at any levels especially:
• Graduate Students (through DSCB , BMS and BMI programs)
• Undergraduate Students (via the Berkeley URAP)
If you're interested in joining our team, please reach out!