Yun Claudia Wei

Yun Claudia Wei, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Professor in Pediatrics Hematology and Oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center with secondary affiliation at the Simmons Cancer Center. Her research focuses on pediatric solid tumors, cancer stem cell dynamics, and therapeutic resistance mechanisms.

Dr. Wei's academic training includes:

• Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Emory University, researching pediatric sonic-hedgehog medulloblastoma under Dr. Anna Kenney
• Postdoctoral fellowship at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School with Dr. David Langenau, investigating rhabdomyosarcoma

Her laboratory pioneers integrative approaches combining single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and novel cell-tracking methodologies to dissect tumor heterogeneity and regulatory networks in pediatric cancers. This work targets critical translational gaps in understanding therapy resistance, recurrence, and metastasis—the primary causes of mortality in young cancer patients. Dr. Wei's research bridges developmental biology with oncology to identify precision medicine targets.

Dr. Wei leads the Wei Lab, described as a "humid" research environment dedicated to characterizing pediatric tumor evolution and developing innovative techniques for monitoring cellular state transitions in real-time.