Elizabeth Chun, PhD

Elizabeth (Hye-Jung) Chun received her MSc and PhD in Bioinformatics (under the supervisions of Drs. Steven Jones and Marco Marra, respectively) from the University of British Columbia, Canada. As part of the NIH NCI’s Therapeutically Applicable Research that Generates Effective Therapy (TARGET) initiative, Chun’s doctoral research focused on molecular characterization of pediatric malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs) through integrative analyses of whole genome, transcriptome, DNA methylation and histone modification profiles. Her work led to identification of novel molecular subgroups and revealed potential application of immunotherapy in this cancer type with very few mutations. She continued her research as a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Marra’s lab, to identify genetic and epigenetic alterations in MRTs using long-read sequencing data. Prior to her graduate training, she worked as a computational biologist at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, performing data analyses and coordinating research activities for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Development of Highly active Anti-Leukemia stem cell Therapy at California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM-HALT) projects. She joined the Park Lab in June 2022. In the Park Lab, she is continuing her research in cancer genomics and contributing her work in the Common Fund Data Ecosystem project.