Versiti - Tongjun Gu, AST, SCTST | Versiti Blood Research Institute

Tongjun Gu, PhD

Tongjun Tongjun profile

Tongjun Gu, PhD

Director, Bioinformatics Core, Associate Investigator

Hematopoiesis & Stem Cell Biology

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Data Science Institute
Medical College of Wisconsin

Courtesy Faculty
Department of Biostatistics
University of Florida

Education and Training

Postdoctoral Training
The Jackson Laboratory

PhD
The Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Contact Information

Dr. Gu’s research is at the forefront of developing and implementing advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithms and statistical models, with a particular emphasis on deep learning and machine learning techniques. Her dedication lies in unraveling the intricacies of complex biological systems and uncovering the underlying mechanisms of human diseases. With extensive training and expertise spanning genomics, genetics, epigenetics, genome-wide association studies, cancer biology, RNA sciences, and Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Gu is uniquely poised to tackle the challenges in these fields.

Leveraging her comprehensive background in various omics data analysis techniques, Dr. Gu's primary research centers on pioneering cutting-edge computational methodologies for the integration analysis of multi-omics data. Through this innovative approach, Dr. Gu aims to delve into the intricate interactions within these diverse datasets, pinpointing both personalized and generalized key elements that contribute to the onset of diseases. Her ultimate objective is to advance the field of early diagnosis and personalized treatment strategies, with a specific focus on cancers such as leukemia, lung cancer, and kidney cancer.

Furthermore, Dr. Gu's research extends to exploring the expanded functions of miRNA and RNA editing. She has dedicated over a decade to studying these aspects, particularly within disease contexts, employing a variety of computational approaches. Her multifaceted research efforts promise to shed light on critical aspects of molecular biology and their implications in disease mechanisms.

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)
 0000-0002-8379-0962

Research positions at various levels are available in the Gu’s lab. To apply, please submit a CV, statement of qualifications, and references to Dr. Tongjun Gu (tgu@versiti.org).

Nisansala Wickramasinghe
Postdoctoral Researcher

Graduated from UT Dallas on Statistics and Data Science in July 2024 and joined Dr. Gu's lab in Aug. 2024. Work on single cell variants discovery and function analysis, genome wide association study and integration of multi-omics data.

Hasini Gammune
Postdoctoral Researcher

Will graduate from UT Dallas on Statistics and Data Science in May 2025 and join Dr. Gu’s lab in June 2025. Work on single cell omics data analysis; integration of multi-omits data; and genome wide association study.

Doan Bui
Research Technologist I

Graduated from U Chicago on Biostatistics in May 2024 and joined Dr. Gu's lab in Dec. 2024. Work on multi-omics data integration analysis.


View or download Dr. Tongjun Gu CV

  • American Cancer Society – MCW Cancer Center Institutional Research Grant (ACS-IRG) Pilot Awards (PI: Gu) 04/01/2025 – 03/31/2026
  • Title: Enhancing Acute Myeloid Leukemia Subtyping through Integrated Epigenetic Analysis
  • 2025 Pilot Award to Advance Translational Science from Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin (PI: Gu) 08/01/2025 – 07/31/2026
    Title: Enhancing Precision Detection of Cancer-Specific and Cell-Type-Specific RNA Editing Sites and DNA Mutations via a Novel Computational Pipeline from Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Data
  • NIH/NHLBI (PPG) (P01HL151333) (Gu: Core B Lead; PI: Hoffmeister)03/01/2025 – 12/2025Title: Molecular and Clinical Glycobiology of the Bone Marrow Environment
  • NIH/NHLBI (R01) (PI: Chrzanowska; Role: Computational Biologist)01/2026 -12/2029Title: Mechanisms of Lung Endothelial Cell Homeostasis: The role of Rap1B
  • NIH/NCI (R01) (PI: Pulikkan; Role: Computational Biologist)04/2025 - 03/2030Title: Targeting chromatin deregulation in CEBPA mutant acute myeloid leukemia
  • Idea Awards MCW CC (MPI: Drobyski and Rao; Role: Co-I)01/2025 – 12/2025Title: Immunologic and Molecular Determinants of Myeloid Sarcoma

Bioinformatician positions at various levels are available at our core. Please follow the links to apply.


Donny Hoang
Computational Biologist

Graduated from University of Wisconsin - Madison with a PhD in Microbiology in Dec. 2023 and joined the Bioinformatics Core in Aug. 2024.

Shriramprasad Venkatesan
Computational Biologist

Graduated from University at Buffalo (SUNY) on Chemical Engineering (Bioinformatics) in Dec. 2024 and will join the Bioinformatics Core in Feb. 2025.

Shikan Zheng
Analyst Research Bioinformatics

Graduated from Marquette University on bioinformatics in May 2019 and joined the Bioinformatics Core in Aug. 2019.

Click here for a full list of publications from Tongjun Gu, PhD

Selected Publications:

  • W Zhu, Y Zheng, M Yu, N Witman, L Zhou, J Wei, Y Zhang, P Topchyan, C Nguyen, R Janecke, A Padmanabhan, LB Kreuziger, GC White, P Hari, T Gu, AT Fields, L Kornblith, RH Aster, J Zhu, W Cui, SM Jobe, MB Graham, D Wang, D Wang, R Wen. (2024) Prothrombotic Antibodies Targeting the Spike Protein's Receptor-Binding Domain in Severe COVID-19. Blood, 145(6):635-647.
  • JF Yu, S Zheng, C Yu, S Gao, Z Shen, R Nar, S Huang, L Wu, T Gua, Z Qian. (2025) KRAS Mutants Confer Platinum Resistance by Hijacking ALKBH5 Post-translational Modifications–mediated DNA Damage Response in Lung Cancer. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 135 (6).
  • J Zhao, T Gu#, C Gao#, G Miao#, H Palma-Gudiel, L Yu, J Yang, Y Wang, Y Li, J Lim, R Li, B Yao, H Wu, JA Schneider, F Grodstein, PL. De Jager, P Jin, DA Bennett. (2025) Brain 5-hydroxymethylcytosine alterations are associated with Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology. Nature Communications, 16(1), 2842.
  • C Yang#, V Trivedi#, K Dyson, T Gu, KM Candelario, DA Mitchell. (2024) Identification of tumor rejection antigens and the immunologic landscape of medulloblastoma. Genome Med., 16, 102.
  • N Mohammad, R Oshins, T Gu, V Clark, J Lascano, N Assarzadegan, G Marek, M Brantly, and N Khodayari. (2024) Transcriptomics reveal an association between lung inflammation and liver disease in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology, 12 (10), 845.
  • C Gobin, S Inkabi, CC Lattimore, T Gu, JN Menefee, M Rodriguez, H Kates, C Fields, T Bian, C Xing, N Silver, C Yates, R Renne, M Xie, K Fredenburg. (2023) Investigating miR-9 as mediator in laryngeal cancer health disparities. Frontiers in Oncology, 13, 1096882.
  • H Palma‐Gudiel, L Yu, Z Huo, J Yang, Y Wang, T Gu, C Gao, PL De Jager, P Jin, DA Bennett, J Zhao. (2023) Fine-mapping and replication of EWAS loci harboring putative epigenetic alterations associated with AD neuropathology in a large collection of human brain tissue samples. Alzheimer's & Dementia, https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12761.
  • T Gu*, M Xie, WB Barbazuk, JH Lee*. (2021) Biological features between miRNA and their targets are unveiled from deep learning models. Scientific Reports, 11 (1), 1-10. 
  • T Gu*, X Zhao, WB Barbazuk, JH Lee. (2021) miTAR: a hybrid deep learning-based approach for predicting miRNA targets. BMC bioinformatics, 22 (1), 1-16.
  • CJ Fields, Lu Li, NM Hiers, T Li, P Sheng, T Huda, J Shan, L Gay, T Gu, J Bian, MS Kilberg, R Renne, M Xie. (2021) Sequencing of Argonaute-bound microRNA/mRNA hybrids reveals regulation of the unfolded protein response by microRNA-320a. PLoS Genetics, 17 (12), e1009934.
  • T Gu*, AQ Fu, MJ Bolt, X Zhao. (2020) Systematic identification of A-to-I editing associated regulators from multiple human cancers. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 119, 103690.
  • T Gu*, X Zhao*. (2019) Integrating multi-platform genomic datasets for kidney renal clear cell carcinoma subtyping using stacked denoising autoencoders. Scientific reports, 9 (1), 1-11. 
  • T Gu*, AQ Fu, MJ Bolt, KP White. (2019) Clinical Relevance of Noncoding Adenosine-to-Inosine RNA Editing in Multiple Human Cancers. JCO clinical cancer informatics, 3, 1-8.

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tongjun-gu-50900240

 
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