About

Professor Ya-Ching Amanda Huang is associated with the Texas A&M College of Nursing, which serves vulnerable populations through research, outreach, and education in forensic nursing. The center, approved by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in 2019, is the first state- and federally funded center dedicated to forensic nursing in Texas. The center's mission is to improve health outcomes for those affected by violence and disaster by developing interdisciplinary, trauma-informed strategies to prevent and address violence across the lifespan. It offers research and training opportunities for nurses, medical professionals, law enforcement, attorneys, social workers, and advocates, aiming to advance forensic nursing knowledge through research, scholarship, technology, and innovation. The center also focuses on educating nurses to provide trauma-informed care, collaborating with stakeholders for holistic responses to violence, and developing forensic nurse leaders with graduate education.

Research topics

• Biology
• Cancer research
• Medicine
• Genetics
• Neuroscience
• Pathology
• Computational biology
• Chemistry
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Nano-optogenetic engineering of CAR T cells for precision immunotherapy with enhanced safety

  Nature Nanotechnology · 2021 · 181 citations

  • Cancer research
  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  DOI

• RNA modifications and cancer

  RNA Biology · 2020 · 176 citations

  • Biology
  • Computational biology
  • Genetics

  C, inosine and pseudouridine, in both coding and non-coding RNAs. In parallel, we present a few other cancer-related tRNA and rRNA modifications. We further discuss their roles in cancer promotion or tumour suppression. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the biogenesis and turnover of these RNA modifications will be of great significance in the design and development of novel anticancer drugs.

  DOI

• Reliable tumor detection by whole-genome methylation sequencing of cell-free DNA in cerebrospinal fluid of pediatric medulloblastoma

  Science Advances · 2020 · 84 citations

  • Biology
  • Pathology
  • Cancer research

  Medulloblastoma (MB), the most common form of pediatric brain malignancy, has a low frequency of oncogenic mutations but pronouncedly abnormal DNA methylation changes. Epigenetic analysis of circulating cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) by liquid biopsy offers an approach for real-time monitoring of tumor status without tumor dissection. In this study, we identified 6598 differentially methylated CpGs in both MB tumors and the ctDNA isolated from matched cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compared with normal cerebellum, which could be used to detect MB tumor occurrence and determine its subtype. Furthermore, DNA methylation changes in serial CSF samples could be used to monitor the treatment response and tumor recurrence. Integrating our data with large public datasets, we identified reliable MB DNA methylation signatures in ctDNA that have potential diagnostic and prognostic values. Our study sets the stage for exploiting epigenetic markers in CSF to improve the clinical management of patients with MB.

  DOI

Recent grants

• Mutational cooperativity in TET2-associated hematological malignancies.

  NIH · $1.7M · 2021–2026

• Role of TET dioxygenase associated immune mechanisms in cardiac injury and repair

  NIH · $1.7M · 2019–2023

• Molecular toolkit for single-cell oxi-mC analysis

  NIH · $432k · 2020–2023

• Epigenetic regulation in cardiac development

  NIH · $3.8M · 2023–2030

• Mutual reinforcement between somatic mutations and transcription factors in clonal hematopoiesis

  NIH · $1.7M · 2023–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Yubin Zhou

  Texas A&M University

  161 shared

• Jia Li

  Theranostics (New Zealand)

  93 shared

• Minjung Lee

  Kangwon National University

  84 shared

• Deqiang Sun

  State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease

  79 shared

• Lian He

  Yue Bei People's Hospital

  70 shared

• Shaohai Fang

  Texas A&M University

  70 shared

• Hongxiang Zeng

  67 shared

• Minjung Lee

  Yale University

  59 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Department of Chemistry

  Georgia State University

  2008

• M.B.B.S.

  Zhejiang University School of Medicine

  2003

Similar researchers at Texas A&M University

• Stephen Safeh-131
• Raymond Carrollh-119
• Fuller Bazerh-114
• Renyi Zhangh-106
• Kim Dunbarh-103