Associate Professor PhD (2015) Cornell University YE Lab Website Current graduate students: Ke Yi (Genetics; 01/2025-) Elijah Sterling (Genetics; co-advised with Dr. Yao Yao; 05/2024-) Lu Wang (Genetics; 01/2024-) Yueqi Lu (Genetics; 01/2024-) Saurav Kumar Choudhary (Bioinformatics; 01/2023-) Susan Adanna Ihejirika (Bioinformatics; 01/2022-) Huifang Xu (Genetics; 01/2022-) Graduated: Shuang Yang (Genetics; 08/2019-08/2024); Yitang Sun (Genetics; 09/2019-05/2024); Michael Francis (Bioinformatics; 06/2019-12/2022) Research Research Areas: Evolutionary Genetics Genomics and Bioinformatics Molecular Genetics Research Interests: My research interest lies in Nutritional Genomics, a new interdisciplinary field bridging Nutritional Sciences and Human Genomics. I am interested in identifying genetic variants that historically helped human populations adapt to local diets and currently underlie individual differences in nutrient metabolism and metabolic disease risks. In the long run, I hope to develop statistical methods that integrate genomic information to personalize our dietary recommendations (Personalized Nutrition). Current research topics in my lab include: 1. Genetic adaptation to diet during human evolution (Population Genetics); 2. Evolution of metabolic genes and complex metabolic traits (Comparative and Population Genetics); 3. Genetic basis of metabolic diseases (Quantitative Genetics; Genetic Epidemiology); 4. Gene-diet interaction in metabolic diseases (Quantitative Genetics; Genetic Epidemiology); 5. Molecular mechanism of genetic variants (Molecular Genetics); 6. Bioinformatic analysis of omics data (Bioinformatics); Selected Publications Selected Publications: * indicates co-first authors; ^ indicates co-corresponding authors; names of group members are in bold; # indicates undergraduate trainees; $ indicates high-school students; Sun Y, McDonald T#, Baur A#, Xu H, Bateman NB#, Shen Y, Li C, Ye K. Fish oil supplementation modifies the associations between genetically predicted and observed levels of blood lipids: a cross-sectional gene-diet interaction study in UK Biobank. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (2024) Francis M, Westerman KE, Manning AK, Ye K. Gene-vegetarianism interactions in calcium, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and testosterone identified in genome-wide analysis across 30 biomarkers. PLOS Genetics. (2024) Zhang Y, Sun Y, Yu Q, Song S, Brenna JT, Shen Y^, Ye K^. Higher ratio of plasma omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is associated with greater risk of all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality: A population-based cohort study in UK Biobank. eLife. (2024) Ge A*$, Sun Y*, Kiker T$, Zhou Y, Ye K. A metabolome-wide Mendelian randomization study prioritizes potential causal circulating metabolites for multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neuroimmunology. (2023) Sun Y, Chatterjee R#, Ronanki A#, Ye K. Circulating polyunsaturated fatty acids and COVID-19: a prospective cohort study and Mendelian randomization analysis. Frontiers in Medicine. (2022) Yang S, Ye K. Recent advances in understanding the adaptive evolution of metabolic genes and traits. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care. (2021) Francis M, Li C, Sun Y, Zhou J, Li X, Brenna JT, Ye K. Genome-wide association study of fish oil supplementation on lipid traits in 81,246 individuals reveals new gene-diet interaction loci. PLOS Genetics. (2021) Ye K, Gao F, Wang D, Bar-Yosef O, Keinan A. Dietary adaptation of FADS genes in Europe varied across time and geography. Nature Ecology and Evolution (2017)Kothapalli KSD*, Ye K*, Gadgil MS, et al. Positive selection on a regulatory insertion–deletion polymorphism in FADS2 influences apparent endogenous synthesis of arachidonic acid. Molecular Biology and Evolution (2016).Ye K*, Cao C*, Lin X, O'Brien KO, Gu Z. Natural selection on HFE in Asian populations contributes to enhanced non-heme iron absorption. BMC Genetics (2015).Ye K^, Lu J, Ma F, Keinan A, Gu Z^. Extensive pathogenicity of mitochondrial heteroplasmy in healthy human individuals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2014).Ye K^, Lu J, Raj SM, Gu Z^. Human expression QTLs are enriched in signals of environmental adaptation. Genome Biology and Evolution (2013).Ye K & Gu Z. Recent advances in understanding the role of nutrition in human genome evolution. Advances in Nutrition (2011).
