Research
Genetic variations directly change enzymes’ activities and functions, or transcription factor regulation, which results in the alteration of the identities and quantities of both intracellular and extracellular metabolites. Therefore, the genetic background can be a causal factor for metabolic reprogramming. My research focus is to identify alterations in metabolism-related genes (metabogenomics) and characterize how these alterations result in specific metabolomic molecular phenotypes, which then inform cancer phenotypes and patient outcomes.
Biography
Dr. Ying Ni is an investigator with a broad background in molecular genetics, genomics, and bioengineering, with specific training and expertise in translational clinical research design, bioinformatics analysis, and functional validation. She specializes in cancer metabolomics, the large-scale study of small molecules, which serves as a quantitative cellular phenotype that provides critical information about cancer states. In her lab, Dr. Ni takes on the challenge of decoding the metabolic heterogeneity of cancer cells using a multi-faceted approach, with a particular focus on inherited genetic predisposition.
Appointed to the Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology (CITI) in 2021, Dr. Ni’s lab focuses on computational multi-omics research that covers areas such as genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics in cancer. Dr. Ni also collaborates with the Taussig Cancer Institute (TCI) and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, where she supports the management of an enterprise-wide cancer genomics data warehouse that incorporates standard of care clinical genomic testing. Working closely with members of the CITI Computational Immunology Platform, Dr. Ni also plays a critical role in developing the Cleveland Clinic instance of cBioPortal – a searchable, minable portal for genomics, transcriptomics, and high-dimensional datasets with patient clinical outcomes. This cross-institutional resource is being developed for addressing both clinical and translational research questions.
Dr. Ni obtained her MS in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, after which she earned her PhD in molecular medicine from Case Western University. Remaining in Cleveland, she then completed a joint postdoctoral fellowship at both the Cleveland Clinic Genomic Medicine Institute and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, establishing her extensive and unique background in both molecular genetics/genomics and bioinformatics.
Education & Professional Highlights
Appointed
2021
Education & Fellowships
Postdoctoral Fellowship - Cleveland Clinic, Genomic Medicine Institute
Cleveland, OH USA
2013
Graduate - Case Western Reserve University
Molecular Medicine
Cleveland, OH USA
2012
Graduate - University of Illinois at Chicago
Electrical Engineering
Chicago, IL USA
2003
Undergraduate - Communication University of China
Electrical Engineering
Beijing, China
2000
Awards & Honors
- Doctoral Excellence Award, Case Western Reserve University
- Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award, American Associateion of Cancer Research
- Outstanding Translational Research, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM)
- AAAS/Excellence in Science Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Memberships
- International Society for Computational Biology
2015-present - American Association of Cancer Research
2012-present - American Society of Human Genetics
2009-present - The American Association for the Advancement of Science
2008-present
Research
Our research is all about the systems genetics of cancers for precision oncology. We are interested in developing computational and bioinformatic approaches for analyzing next-generation sequencing and metabolomics data and focuses on ways of integrating diverse data from different molecular levels (e.g. genetic, transcriptomic, metabolic data, etc.) for connecting genotypes to phenotypes (e.g. in human disease) and generating multi-omics signatures in association with disease pathogenicity, prognosis, and biomarker discovery. In particular, we are focusing on metabogenomics, which identifies alterations in metabolism-related genes and metabolites could have direct impact in cancer predisposition, tumor progression, and immunotherapy treatment response.
Our Team
Selected Publications
View publications for Ying Ni, PhD
(Disclaimer: This search is powered by PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. PubMed is a third-party website with no affiliation with Cleveland Clinic.)
- Ni Y, Zbuk KM, Sadler T, Patocs A, Lobo G, Edelman E, Platzer P, Orloff MS, Waite KA, and Eng C, Germline mutations and variants in the succinate dehydrogenase genes in Cowden and Cowden-like syndromes. American Journal of Human Genetics, 2008. 83(2): p. 261-268.
- Ni Y, He X, Chen J, Moline J, Mester J, Orloff MS, Ringel MD, and Eng C, Germline SDHx variants modify breast and thyroid cancer risks in Cowden and Cowden-like syndrome via FAD/NAD-dependant destabilization of p53. Human Molecular Genetics, 2012. 21(2): p. 300-310.
- Ni Y, Seballos S, Fletcher B, Romigh T, Yehia L, Mester J, Senter L, Niazi F, Saji M, Ringel MD, LaFramboise T, and Eng C, Germline compound heterozygous poly-glutamine deletion in USF3 may be involved in predisposition to heritable and sporadic epithelial thyroid carcinoma, Human Molecular Genetics, 2017. 26(2):243-257.
- Yehia L*, Ni Y*, Niazi F, Sesock K, Chen J, and Eng C, Unexpected Cancer-Predisposition Gene Variants in Cowden Syndrome and Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba Syndrome Patients Without Underlying Germline PTEN Mutations, PLoS Genetics, 2018. 14(4):e1007352
- Yehia L*, Ni Y*, Feng F, Seyfi M, Sadler T, Frazier TW, Eng C, Distinct Alterations in Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Metabolites are Associated with Cancer and Autism Phenotypes in Cowden Syndrome and Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba Syndrome, American Journal Of Human Genetics, 2019. 105(4):813-821.
- Ni Y, Soliman A, Joehlin-Price A, Abdul-Karim F, Rose PG, Mahdi H, Immune cells and signatures characterize tumor microenvironment and predict outcome in ovarian and endometrial cancers, Immunotherapy, 2021 Aug 23.
Careers
Research News
Up to one in seven melanoma patients are genetically predisposed to the cancer, suggesting inherited genetics may be a bigger risk factor than sun exposure in some cases.