Ryan R. Cheng

My research focuses on using computer simulations, biopolymer theory, statistical mechanics, and machine learning to unravel the mechanistic principles of genome organization and transcriptional regulation. I am particularly interested in how genetic material is organized within the nuclei of eukaryotic cells and how various biomolecular interactions shape that organization and function, thereby affecting how that genetic material is read and maintained. My research group will use theory and computer simulations to investigate (1) “the cellular interactome” by building structural models of biomolecular interactions that play important roles in maintaining, regulating, and organizing the genome and (2) the modulation of chromosome structural ensembles via mechano-sensing (i.e., the nucleus as a mechano-sensor).

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2012-2022 Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University

2012 Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin

2007 B.S. in Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University