Peng Xu is a Postdoctoral Associate in Dr. Qin Yan’s lab at the Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine. His current research mainly focuses on identifying druggable targets that are essential for cancer metastasis and developing novel strategies to prevent and treat metastatic tumors. Peng obtained his PhD degree in Medical System Biology (Cancer Epigenetics) at the Institutes of Biomedical Sciences (IBS) at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Peng’s PhD thesis project focuses on the epigenetic regulation of RNA metabolism, especially the effects of histone modifications exerted on pre-mRNA alternative splicing. From December 2019 to March 2020, Peng did research at the University of Southern California (USC) as a visiting scholar. After PhD thesis defense in December 2021, Peng joined a biomedical start-up as Director of the Creative R&D Department, focusing on developing DNA methylation-based early cancer biomarkers and commercial kits/devices. In August 2022, Peng resigned from the start-up and joined Dr. Qin Yan’s lab at Yale as a postdoc, committed to concentrating on basic research and becoming a cancer biologist.
From March 2023 to October 2024, Peng served as the coordinator of the Buddy Program of the Mentorship Committee and was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award for excellence in program operation. Serving as the co-coordinator of the Belonging Committee in January 2025, Peng hopes to contribute to a more inclusive, supportive, and growth-promoting Yale postdoc community, especially for the underrepresented. Outside the lab, Peng loves playing tennis, hiking, and road trips.