Stanford Medicine News Center Topics Awards & Honors January Recognitions Howard Chang, MD, PhD

Howard Chang, MD, PhD

The Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor in Cancer Research and professor of dermatology and of genetics has received Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal Prize for Science in biology. The prize is in recognition of Chang’s work in uncovering the significance of long non-coding RNAs in gene regulation and his collaborative efforts in advancing genome-wide methodologies to identify DNA regulatory regions. The prize includes a certificate written in Arabic Diwani calligraphy and signed by the chairman of the prize board, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal Bin Abd Al-Aziz, along with a 24-carat, 200-gram gold medal and a $200,000 grant.

Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD
Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research, Professor of Genetics and, by courtesy, of Pathology

Bio

I am a physician-scientist who has trained in genome science. My research has focused on mechanisms that coordinate the activities of large number of genes in cell fate control. We made a series of discoveries that introduced the important and pervasive roles of long noncoding RNAs in biological regulation. My group has substantial experience in epigenetics and RNA biology, including invention of new methods for epigenomic profiling, map RNA occupancy on chromatin, and define RNA structures genome-wide. My group pioneered methods to identify key regulators of large-scale transcriptional programs; these methods have been highly fruitful for studies of development, cancer, and aging. The long term goal of my laboratory is to decipher the regulatory information in the human genome for disease diagnosis and therapy.

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