Yu-Chiao Chiu, Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology

Education & Training

  • Postdoc, Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, 2017-2022
  • Ph.D., Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, 2015
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 2010

Research Interest Summary

We study precision cancer medicine by integrating machine and deep learning technology with complex multi-omics data.

Research Categories

Research Interests

The Chiu Lab focuses on the development of state-of-the-art machine and deep learning models that integrate multi-modal genomic and pharmacogenomic data to study cancer biology and improve cancer therapy. Our latest publications are well-recognized by broad cancer and bioinformatics communities: Science Advances (selected by @NCIgenomics as the #1 paper of 2021), BMC Medical Genomics (selected as Springer Nature Research Highlight in Genetics of 2019), and Briefings in Bioinformatics. Our lab is actively supported by federal and intramural funds, and we are currently working on an NIH/NCI-funded project that focuses on deep learning-based prediction of drug sensitivity and genetic dependency of adult and pediatric cancers. We welcome Ph.D. students who are passionate about bioinformatics research to systematically understand cancer biology, to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, and to improve therapy. Potential research topics include deep learning methods applied to spatial single cell profiles and many other high-throughput genomic and pharmacogenomic datasets.

Located in the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, our lab members build cross-disciplinary collaborations with clinical, translational, and basic scientists to bridge cutting-edge computational algorithms with unmet needs in precision oncology. Dr. Chiu, with his cross-disciplinary experience spanning across engineering, informatics, biology, and medicine, is devoted to the career development of his trainees. He has successfully mentored trainees with different research backgrounds and has experience acquiring the prestigious NIH/NCI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award and mentoring F99/K00 predoc to postdoc transition award applications. At the Chiu Lab, students will receive dedicated mentorship on career development planning, career development awards and fellowships, and more.

Representative Publications

Chiu YC, Chen HH, Zhang T, Zhang S, Gorthi A, Wang LJ, Huang Y, Chen Y. Predicting drug response of tumors from integrated genomic profiles by deep neural networks. BMC Medical Genomics. 2019;12(Suppl 1):18. PubMed PMID: 30704458; PMCID: PMC6357352. Springer Nature Research Highlight in Genetics of 2019.

Chiu YC, Chen HH, Gorthi A, Mostavi M, Zheng S, Huang Y, Chen Y. Deep learning of pharmacogenomics resources: moving towards precision oncology. Briefings in Bioinformatics. 2020;21(6):2066-83. PubMed PMID: 31813953; PMCID: PMC7711267.

Chiu YC, Zheng S, Wang LJ, Iskra BS, Rao MK, Houghton PJ, Huang Y, Chen Y. Predicting and characterizing a cancer dependency map of tumors with deep learning. Science Advances. 2021;7(34). PubMed PMID: 34417181; PMCID: PMC8378822. #1 favorite paper of 2021 by @NCIgenomics.

Full List of Publications