Bio

I recently defended my Ph.D. in Biostatistics at Penn State University, where I work under the mentorship of Prof. Dajiang Liu. My research is centered on statistical genetics, functional genomics, and data science.

In the summer of 2023, I gained valuable experience as a Research Data Scientist Intern at Calico, a subsidiary of Alphabet, where I worked with Dr. Madeleine Cule and her team.

Before starting my Ph.D. program, I earned a master’s degree in Biostatistics from Georgetown University, where I was advised by Prof. Ao Yuan and Ming Tan. I got my bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics from the Southern University of Science and Technology, where I was mentored by Prof. Guoliang Tian.

Research Interests

• How can regulatory effects be modeled and assessed at single-cell resolution?
• How can genetics and clinical data be leveraged to prevent disease progression?
• How can genetics and multi-omics data be utilized to inform drug development?

Projects

Selected Publication

• [2025] Wang, L.†, Markus, H.†, et al. An atlas of single-cell eQTLs dissects autoimmune disease genes and identifies novel drug classes for treatment. Cell Genomics (2025)
• [2024] Tan, Y., Wang, L., Zhang, H. et al. Interpretable GWAS by linking clinical phenotypes to quantifiable immune repertoire components. Commun Biol 7, 1357 (2024).
• [2024] Wang, L.†, Khunsriraksakul, C.†, et al. Integrating single cell expression quantitative trait loci summary statistics to understand complex trait risk genes. Nat Commun 15, 4260 (2024)
• [2022] Khunsriraksakul, C., …, Wang, L., et al. Integrating 3D genomic and epigenomic data to enhance target gene discovery and drug repurposing in transcriptome-wide association studies. Nat Commun 13, 3258 (2022).
• [2022] Yuan A., Wang L., Tan MT. Set-regression with applications to subgroup analysis. Statistics in Medicine. 2022;41(1):180-193.

Awards and honors

• [2024] ASHG - Reviewers’ Choice Abstract (10%)
• [2024] ASHG - Predoctoral Trainee Research Excellence Semi-finalist (5%)
• [2024] Penn State University - Vernon M. Chinchilli, PhD Award for Excellence in Biostatistics
• [2023] ASHG - Featured Plenary Oral Presentation (0.5%)
• [2023] ASHG - Predoctoral Trainee Research Excellence Finalist (2%)
• [2023] ACGA - Predoctoral Trainee Awardee for Basic Research
• [2023] Penn State University - Finkelstein Memorial Trainee Research Award
• [2019] University of Washington - Statistical Genetics Summer Institutes Scholarship
• [2018] Georgetown University - Biomedical Graduate Tuition Scholarship

Resources

• [2025] Penn State News features our JOBS work on drug repurposing.
• [2024] AMSTATS News [1] [2] spotlight on Dr. Wang.
• [2024] Penn State News features our EXPRESSO work.
• [2022] Penn State News and Penn State Health News features our PUMICE work.

Invited Talks

A single cell eQTL atlas for cell type specific regulatory effectss.

• Genetic Epidemiology Journal Club, Emory University, Virtual, Mar. 2025
• Seminar, Dana-farber cancer institute, Boston, MA, US, Feb. 2025
• Seminar, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, US, Jan. 2025
• Multi-Omics Symposium, Hershey, PA, US, Oct. 2024
• ACGA Virtual Seminar, Feb. 2024
• American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meetings, Washington, DC, US, Nov. 2023
• Student-Led Seminar, Hershey, PA, US, Oct. 2023

Dissecting systemic lupus erythematosus associated genetic loci at single cell resolution

• Rheumatology Research Day, Hershey, PA, US, Oct. 2023

Genetic analysis of image-derived phenotype in kidney substructures

• Student-Led Seminar, Hershey, PA, US, Sep. 2023
• Calico Life Science LLC, South San Francisco, CA, US, Aug. 2023

Integrating single cell expression quantitative trait loci summary statistics to understand complex trait risk genes

• Statistical, Computational, Translational, and Ethical Challenges in Biobank Data Analysis workshop (presentaed by Prof. Dajiang Liu), Banff, Canada, Jul. 2024
• STATGEN 2024 (presentaed by Prof. Dajiang Liu), Pittsburgh, PA, US, May. 2024
• ASHG 2022 poster talk, Los Angeles, CA, US, Nov. 2022
• Student-Led Seminar, Hershey, PA, US, Oct. 2022

Contact

Address: 90 Hope Dr, Hershey, PA 17033
Email: lida.wang.96 (at) gmail.com