Background
I am a third-year Ph.D. student in Biomedical Data Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, co-advised by Prof. Sündüz Keleş and Prof. Hyunseung Kang. I am broadly interested in developing and applying statistical methods to solve real-world problems.
My current work focuses on statistical genomics and causal inference, specifically the analysis of large-scale CRISPR perturbation data to illuminate gene regulation and other complex biological processes. Prior to graduate school, I worked with Prof. Qiongshi Lu, developing statistical methods for complex trait genetics and genetic risk prediction on biobank-scale data, with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration.
Education
Ph.D., Biomedical Data Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison (2023–Present)
Advisors:
Prof. Sündüz Keleş
and
Prof. Hyunseung Kang
B.S., Mathematics and Statistics, University of Wisconsin–Madison (2019–2023)
Advisor:
Prof. Qiongshi Lu
Research Experience
Graduate Research Assistant, Keleş Research Group, UW–Madison (2024–Present)
Undergraduate Researcher, Lu Laboratory, UW–Madison (2021–2023)
Selected Publications/Preprints
* First author with equal contribution; † Last author with equal contribution.
Park, K., Sun, Z., Liao, R., Bresnick, E. H., Keleş, S. (2025). Systematic Background Selection for Enhanced Contrastive Dimension Reduction. bioRxiv, 2025-05.
Zhao, Z., Gruenloh, T., Yan, M., Wu, Y., Sun, Z., Miao, J., Wu, Y., Song, J., Lu, Q. (2024). Optimizing and benchmarking polygenic risk scores with GWAS summary statistics. Genome Biology, 25(1): 260.
Miao, J., Wu, Y., Sun, Z., Miao, X., Lu, T., Zhao, J., Lu, Q. (2024). Valid inference for machine learning-assisted genome-wide association studies. Nature Genetics, 56(11): 2361–2369.
Wu, Y.*, Sun, Z.*, Zheng, Q., Miao, J., Dorn, S., Mukherjee, S., Fletcher, J., Lu, Q. (2024). Pervasive biases in proxy genome-wide association studies based on parental history of Alzheimer’s disease. Nature Genetics, 1–8.
Xu, Y., Sun, Z., Jonaitis, E., Deming, Y., Lu, Q., Johnson, S., Engelman, C. (2024). Apolipoprotein E moderates the association between non-APOE polygenic risk score for Alzheimer's disease and aging on preclinical cognitive function. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 20(2): 1063–1075.
See Google Scholar for a complete list.
Conference Presentations
- 2025 · ACIC — Poster & Lightning Talk: Estimating Gene Regulatory Networks Using Perturb-seq Data.
- 2024 · ASHG — Poster: Pervasive Biases in GWAS Using Family History of Alzheimer’s Disease.
- 2024 · IGSS — Talk: Pervasive Biases in GWAS Using Family History of Alzheimer’s Disease.
- 2024 · TAGC — Talk: Pervasive Biases in GWAS Using Family History of Alzheimer’s Disease.
- 2022 · ASHG — Poster: Pervasive Biases in GWAS Using Family History of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Honors & Awards
2022 · Wisconsin Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship (advisor: Qiongshi Lu)
Professional Affiliations
2025 · International Biometric Society (ENAR) — Member
2025 · Society for Causal Inference (SCI) — Member
2024 · American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) — Member
2023 · American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) — Member
2022 · American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) — Member