Jindan Yu
MD, PhD
Dr. Yu's lab seeks to understand the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying prostate cancer progression using cutting-edge genomics and bioinformatics approaches.
Titles and Roles
- Acting Professor, Department of Urology
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Acting Professor, Department of Human Genetics
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Scientific Director, Prostate and GU Cancer Research
- Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
- Vice Chair for Research, Department of Urology
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Research Program
- Cell and Molecular Biology
Biography
Jindan Yu, MD, PhD, is Acting Professor and serves as Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Urology at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Yu also serves as Scientific Director for Prostate and GU Cancers Research at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. She holds a joint appointment and serves as faculty lead for cancer genomics in the Department of Human Genetics. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory in 2023, Dr. Yu was a Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern University of Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Yu is a member of the Cell and Molecular Biology Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute. She holds professional memberships with The Endocrine Society, American Urological Association, Society for Basic Urologic Research and American Association for Cancer Research.
Dr. Yu has trained over 40 fellows and graduate students and served on over 30 PhD thesis committees.
Education
Dr. Yu received her Bachelor of Medicine (equivalent to MD in US) at Peking University, Health Science Center in Beijing, China. She received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering with concentration on Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Research
Dr. Yu's lab seeks to understand the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying prostate cancer progression using cutting-edge genomics and bioinformatics approaches. Her lab has made several significant contributions, including:
- characterizing the roles of EZH2 as an epigenetic and non-epigenetic regulator of prostate cancer,
- defining the dual roles of FOXA1 in reprogramming AR and suppressing SLUG, TGF-β signaling, and IL-8, and
- elucidating how HOXB13 loss and mutation induces lipid metabolism in prostate cancer, contributing to cancer metastasis. These findings paved the way for therapeutic targeting of EZH2, FOXA1, and HOXB13 downstream pathways, some of which have entered clinical trials.
Currently, the lab is focused on elucidating how these tumor-intrinsic factors regulate the tumor microenvironment to control response to immunotherapy and utilizing single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and Nanopore long-read sequencing technologies to understand molecular mechanisms of genitourinary cancers, identify prognostic/therapeutic biomarkers, and develop novel therapeutic approaches for advanced diseases.
Publications
Dr. Yu is Associate Editor of the journal, Oncogene. She has been published in 90 articles in prestigious scientific journals including Nature Genetics, Molecular Cell, and Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Publications Publication Date