Cherng Yang

Cherng is a Ph.D. candidate investigating the molecular underpinnings of coronary artery and broader cardiovascular disease, alongside a parallel project on smooth muscle calcification. Cherng’s work combines large-scale dry-lab analyses - GWAS, post-GWAS methods, RNA-seq and ATAC-seq - with targeted wet-lab validation in cell culture and calcification reporter assays, all aimed at uncovering genetic and epigenetic drivers and pinpointing novel drug targets. Cherng holds an M.Sc. in Molecular Life Science and a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Würzburg, where metabolic adaptation in ageing and modeling of SACOL responses to varying substrates were explored. A member of yDZHK and alumnus of the University of Würzburg, Cherng is part of the iRTG1665 research training group and is working on Project M08, “Considering Sex as a Spectrum – The First Approach to Overcome the Concept of Sex as a Binary Trait in Genetic Studies.”