I am currently a PhD candidate in Biostatistics at Boston University, where I am fortunate to be advised by Dr. Ching-Ti Liu and Dr. Gina Peloso. My research focuses on developing and applying statistical methods to elucidate the genetic architecture of complex traits, with a particular emphasis on cardiometabolic and plasma lipid-related outcomes. I conduct large-scale GWAS meta-analyses and rare-variant association tests to identify both common and rare genetic variations that contribute to disease risk. Methodologically, I am interested in developing Bayesian frameworks to quantify the replicability of pleiotropic loci across studies and populations. I am an active member of the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program and the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium (GLGC), collaborating closely with Dr. Pradeep Natarajan, Dr. Jacqueline Dron, Dr. Xihong Lin, and Dr. Xihao Li.
Prior to my doctoral studies, I earned my master degree in Biostatistics from Yale University, where I was advised by Dr. Denise Esserman and Dr. Hongyu Zhao.
I completed my undergraduate studies in Applied Biology with Biotechnology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, graduating with First Class Honours.
[Jun. 2025] Yuxuan will present his thesis work, “RePlei: Replication of pleiotropic loci with GWAS summary statistics” at the New England Statistical Symposium 2025, New Haven, CT.
[Jan. 2025] We’re overjoyed to share that our family has grown — a little one joined us recently, happy and healthy.
[May. 2024] Yuxuan will join Genentech as a summer intern, working with Dr. Christian Benner and Dr. Anubha Mahajan on statistical fine-mapping methods.
[Oct. 2023] Our paper “Rare variants in long non-coding RNAs are associated with blood lipid levels in the TOPMed whole-genome sequencing study” is published by American Journal of Human Genetics.
[Dec. 2022] Our paper “Implicating genes, pleiotropy and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multiancestry meta-analysis” is published by Genome Biology.
RePlei: Replication of pleiotropic loci with GWAS summary statistics
Assessing Fine-Mapping Methods to Identify Causal Variants at the APOE Locus in Alzheimer’s Disease
Impact of GWAS Meta-analysis Heterogeneity on Polygenic Prediction Accuracy
Rare Variants in Long Non-coding RNAs are Associated with Blood Lipid Levels in the TOPMed Whole Genome Sequencing Study
ASHG, Los Angeles, CA – Fall 2022
BU-FHS TOPMed Working Group, Boston, MA - June 2023
Prioritizing Genes from Genome-wide Meta-analyses of Blood Lipid Levels
Integrating Multiple Gene Prioritization Methods to Identify Causal Genes
Comparison of Methods to Analyze Clustered Time-to-Event Data with Competing Risks
Teaching Assistant, Boston University
Course Coordinator, Boston University