Profile of Howard Y. Chang

Abstract

Since the 1930s, when RNA was recognized as chemically distinct from DNA, scientists have known of the diversity of RNA molecules. What they could not have fathomed at the time, however, is the variety of roles, both informational and structural, that RNA plays in biology: from protein expression and regulation to chromatin remodeling and epigenetic modification. Over the past two decades, physician-scientist Howard Y. Chang has helped enrich the RNA canon. He has discovered long sequences of RNA that do not code for proteins but instead modulate DNA accessibility. He has also helped develop next-generation sequencing methods that leverage his knowledge of the interactions between DNA, RNA, and proteins. In his Inaugural Article (1), Chang, who was elected to the National Academies of Sciences in 2020 and is a professor of dermatology and of genetics at Stanford University, describes the development of BABEL, a system that uses advanced computational techniques to translate between sets of sequencing data, down to single-cell resolution. The work provides further insights into the mechanisms of DNA regulation and protein expression and may aid the development of therapeutics for diseases such as cancer. Howard Y. Chang in his laboratory at Stanford. Image credit: Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, but he, his mother, and younger brother moved to southern California when Chang was 12 years old. His father, a physician, remained in Asia. “My parents felt we would have better educational opportunities in the [United States],” Chang says. America was a major cultural shift for his family, and Chang took English classes to quickly get up to speed. He said that “The social interactions in the [United States], especially with teachers, is very different than in Taiwan.” He credits his public high school experience with laying the foundation for a successful career. …