Upper aerodigestive cancers including head and neck and esophageal cancers are among the most lethal malignancies in the world. Over the years, our lab has gathered valuable research experience and data for upper aerodigestive cancer study. For example, we are among the first in the world to demonstrate the genomic landscape of esophageal cancer (Nat Genet 2014). As a pioneer in the field, we delineated for the first time the clonal evolution of this cancer (Nat Genet 2016). Moreover, our recent work identified epigenomic de-regulation for this malignancy (Gut 2017; Gut 2018; Gut 2019; Nature Communications 2018; Nature Communications 2021a; Nature Communications 2021b; Gastroenterology 2017; Gastroenterology 2020). We have also developed novel mathematical methods and computational pipelines for the analyses of genomic (Genome Research 2018, Bioinformatics 2020) and epigenomic data (Bioinformatics 2018, Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021).
The Lin lab aims to develop faithful in vivo and in vitro models to characterize upper aerodigestive cancer for better understanding of its biology as well as its vulnerability. We are further integrating advanced computational methodologies and cutting-edge genomic tools to strengthen these models.