Dan earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York in 2021. From 2014 to 2022 in Dr. Jianlong Wang’s laboratory (the laboratory moved to Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2019), she focused on post-transcriptional and translational control of stem cell pluripotency. She revealed mechanisms of an RNA helicase in maintaining stem cell pluripotency through post-transcriptional control of the cell cycle (Nucleic Acids Research, 2022), and established a unique mRNA translation program which shapes the proteome of embryonic stem cells (Science Advances, 2022). Inspired by her interest, she also overviewed ribosome heterogeneity in stem cells and development (Journal of Cell Biology, 2020), as well as the regulation of pluripotency and reprogramming by RNA binding proteins (Current Topics in Developmental Biology, 2020). Moreover, she contributed important functional data to the phospho-proteome in pluripotent stem cells (Stem Cell Reports, 2017, co-first author).

Dan joined Dr. David Scadden’s laboratory in September 2022 and is interested in understanding RNA biology, particularly mRNA translation mechanisms in hematopoietic development and diseases. Dan is currently investigating the mRNA translational signatures of leukemia. She seeks to illuminate the mRNA translation program and explore the related therapeutic potential for hematopoietic diseases.