Jun Song is interested in applying his training in mathematics and physics to problems in biomedical research – he has been applying his computational skills to genomics and epigenomics for over a decade. Song’s research focuses on understanding the complex systems of stem cell differentiation and cancer progression. In particular, the Song lab studies how epigenetic and transcriptional changes are associated with cellular differentiation and cancer progression by reconstructing molecular interaction networks from state-of-the-art high-throughput genomic data, with the goal of identifying actionable targets for improving regenerative medicine and precision cancer therapy.

Song is a faculty member in the Department of Physics and a co-PI of the NIH-funded UIUC Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Center. He received his AB in Physics from Harvard University, before earning his MA.St in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and his PhD in Mathematical Physics from MIT.