Close-up of sample being place into microplate

Research Lab Overview

Dr. Wang’s laboratory focuses on understanding how splicing factor mutations and RNA epigenetics dysregulation contributing to splicing dysregulation and lymphoma biology with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma as disease models. The ultimate goal is to discover novel prognostic markers and to design better therapeutic approaches.

Research Highlights

Dissecting RNA splicing factor mutations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). One of the findings from the cancer genome sequencing of CLL is the discovery of high frequency mutations in the RNA splicing factor SF3B1. Dr. Wang demonstrated how these splicing factor mutations impact RNA splicing and resulted in functional changes on multiple CLL-associated pathways using cell lines and clinical samples characterization (Wang L et al Cancer Cell 2016, cover image). Dr. Wang’s group established faithful murine CLL and RT models based on Sf3b1 mutation and other genetic lesions (Yin et al Cancer Cell 2019, cover image)(Iyer et al Sci. Transl. Med. 2024, cover image).

Discovering novel drivers and pathways in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Dr. Wang’s group defined genetic landscape of MCL and clustered patients into four groups based on shared genetic features, each with distinct gene expression signature and clinical outcomes (Yi et al Journal of Clinical Investigation 2022, cover image).

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Lili Wang, M.D., Ph.D.

A Professor in the Department of Systems Biology, Dr. Wang’s group studies genetic alterations, RNA splicing dysregulation and oncogenesis in hematologic malignancies.

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Lab Members

Prajish Iyer, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist

In 2018, Prajish Iyer was awarded his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from...

Prajish Iyer, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist

In 2018, Prajish Iyer was awarded his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Advanced Center for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in India for his thesis entitled “Genetic approaches to identify novel oncogenes in human cancer.”

While pursuing his Ph.D., he gained expertise in understanding the genomics of gallbladder, head and neck cancer and lung cancer using next-generation sequencing technologies.

His work has been covered by Wellcome Trust news in India and other media outlets. Dr. Iyer joined the laboratory of Lili Wang, M.D., Ph.D., in February 2018, where he hopes to use his genomic expertise to understand the genetic alterations of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. His current work is focused on understanding the role of NOTCH signaling and the role of genetic alterations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Degrees

2017, Ph.D., Life Sciences, Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, ACTREC, India
2012, M.S., Biochemistry, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India
2009, B.S., Biotechnology, University of Mumbai, India

Professional Experience

2018-present, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Systems Biology, City of Hope, Monrovia, CA

Awards

2017, SAM Mistry Travel Grant Award for attending Cell Symposia
2017, Homi Bhabha National Institute Travel Grant Award for attending Cell Symposia
2016, Nature Reviews Best Poster Award in NextGen Genomics and Bioinformatics Technologies Conference
2016, Top Poster selected for presentation under Award Category in the India International Science Festival
2014, Nature Reviews Best Poster Award in NextGen Genomics and Bioinformatics Technologies Conference
2012, Best Poster Award Second Global Cancer Genomics Consortium: Second Annual Symposium Genomics Medicine in Cancer Research

Memberships

American Association for Cancer Research
Indian Association for Cancer Research, India
ATCC SDO Consensus Standards Partnership
International Society for Experimental Hematology

Publications

Chandrani P, Prabhash K, Prasad R, Sethunath V, Ranjan M, Iyer P, Aich J, Dhamne H, Iyer DN, Upadhyay P, Mohanty B, Chandna P, Kumar R, Joshi A, Noronha V, Patil V, Ramaswamy A, Karpe A, Thorat R, Chaudhari P, Ingle A, Choughule A, Dutt A. Drug-sensitive FGFR3 mutations in lung adenocarcinoma. Ann Oncol. 2017; 28:597-603. DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdw636.
Iyer P, Barreto SG, Sahoo B, Chandrani P, Ramadwar MR, Shrikhande SV, Dutt A. Non-typhoidal Salmonella DNA traces in gallbladder cancer. Infect Agent Cancer. 2016; 11:12. DOI: 10.1186/s13027-016-0057-x.
Upadhyay P, Gardi N, Desai S, Sahoo B, Singh A, Togar T, Iyer P, Prasad R, Chandrani P, Gupta S, Dutt A. TMC-SNPdb: an Indian germline variant database derived from whole exome sequences. Database (Oxford). 2016; pii: baw104. DOI: 10.1093/database/baw104.
Chandrani P, Kulkarni V, Iyer P, Upadhyay P, Chaubal R, Das P, Mulherkar R, Singh R, Dutt A. NGS-based approach to determine the presence of HPV and their sites of integration in human cancer genome. Br J Cancer. 2015; 112:1958-1965.
Chandrani P, Upadhyay P, Iyer P, Tanna M, Shetty M, Raghuram GV, Oak N, Singh A, Chaubal R, Ramteke M, Gupta S, Dutt A. Integrated genomics approach to identify biologically relevant alterations in fewer samples. BMC Genomics. 2015; 16:936.

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Erica Niewold

Graduate Student, Department of Systems Biology

Research Focus Noncoding splicing factor mutations and RNA ...