Kai Tan, assistant professor of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, has received a two-year $412,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a novel computational tool for epigenomics data analysis.

Regulatory DNA elements called enhancers play an essential role in setting up tissue-specific gene expression patterns that govern healthy and disease development. However, these DNA elements are notoriously hard to identify. Tan’s team proposes to establish a novel computational means to identify enhancer elements based on their epigenetic characteristics.  Through this project, they expect to develop a much-needed tool for studying epigenetic regulation of gene expression.