Ruofan Yu is a research associate in the laboratory of Shelley L. Berger at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.S. from Peking University and Ph.D. in genetics and genomics from Baylor College of Medicine. She aims to elucidate how three-dimensional genome organization and nuclear architecture regulate gene expression programs, with a special focus on nuclear speckles, a class of nuclear condensates, and how they regulate gene pathways relevant to neurodevelopment.

In the Berger lab, Yu has investigated the mechanisms by which nuclear speckles organize chromatin and facilitate gene regulation. Her work further examines how disruption of this process contributes to transcriptional dysregulation in neurodevelopmental disorders, including Cornelia de Lange syndrome and ZTTK syndrome, using patient-derived models. Moving forward, she plans to further investigate the molecular mechanisms linking nuclear architecture to gene regulation, examine how disruption of these mechanisms contributes to neurodevelopmental disease pathogenesis, and explore potential strategies for modulating nuclear organization as a therapeutic approach.