Yan Lab

Our lab has been focusing on incorporating mining from multi-omics data into population studies to understand the etiological role of the gut microbiome in human diseases. These includes colorectal cancer and cardiometabolic disease. The gut microbiome also strongly interacts with response to immunotherapy, including non-small lung cancer and melanoma, and influences their treatment effects. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that specific microbial strain functionality can have causal roles in disease initiation or progression – both at the individual subspecies level and as an ecosystem. We will apply state-of-the-art multi-omic’ approaches including genomic, metagenomic, and metabolomic profiling to define the mechanisms by how microbes regulate intestinal oncogenesis, immune responses, and malignancies.

The dysbiosis of gut microbiome could influence multiple human diseases uniquely through a combination of metabolism and small molecule products, immunomodulation, and direct interaction with a tumorigenic or protective microenvironment. Our previous work has identified that the structure and functions of the gut microbiome could help to predict individuals with colorectal adenomas (polyps with a risk of becoming cancer) or colorectal cancer risk. Recently, we have uncovered preliminary evidence that suggests that the microbiota is integral to cancer immunotherapy that modulating the microbiome could change the course of the disease. The major impact of our research will be to generate a comprehensive picture of the still-mysterious tumor microbiome in cancer pathogenesis and response to treatment.

You are not alone – Living inside of our bodies are trillions of microorganisms. Be brave. Stay wild! We’ll explore the microbiome world together.


ADDRESS: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Life Science Research Building 320 Yueyang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, China, 200031.