Wan-Yee Tang

Wan-Yee Tang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on understanding how environmental pollutants, allergens, and dietary factors alter the epigenome through DNA methylation/demethylation and chromatin remodeling, contributing to respiratory disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

• Education
  • BSc in Biochemistry (2000), The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • PhD in Biochemistry (2004), The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Her work utilizes experimental asthma models and methylation profiling to uncover novel roles of DNA hydroxymethylation in airway hyperresponsiveness. She bridges laboratory discoveries with population studies, investigating how inter-individual epigenetic variations relate to disease risks like diabetes and coronary heart disease in human cohorts.

Key article trends include:

• Epigenetic effects of pollutants (e.g., bisphenol A, PAHs)
• Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance
• Metal exposure and DNA methylation
• Metabolic-epigenetic crosstalk in asthma and aging
• Sex-based differences in epigenetic responses
• Public health implications for preventive strategies

Her teaching includes courses on Epigenetics and Epigenomics of Environmental Health and Principles of Toxicology. Collaborative projects span environmental epigenomics consortia like NIEHS TaRGET II, with applications to chronic disease prevention and therapeutic development.