Yun C. Sawa

I am a Ph.D. student in Mathematical, Computational and Systems Biology at UC Irvine, working at the intersection of computational genomics, cancer biology, and long-read sequencing. My current research focuses on repeat-rich regions of the genome, including rDNA structural variation, telomere dynamics, genome assembly, and spatial or single-cell tumor ecosystems.

Research Direction

I build algorithms and analysis workflows that make complex genomic structures measurable. Recent work includes a Python-based long repeat inversion algorithm for ONT data, telomere-age regression modeling, and assembly graph cleanup for a Telomere-to-Telomere fusion genome in S. pombe.

Technical Range

My toolkit spans Python, R, Shell/Bash, Linux/Unix, HPC environments, Snakemake, Nextflow, Docker, NGS analysis, long-read sequencing analysis, GWAS, RNA-seq, molecular modeling, and wet-lab fundamentals such as PCR, qPCR, NGS library preparation, and gel electrophoresis.

Translational Context

Before UCI, I conducted clinical and computational research in urological oncology at UCSD Health, including work that contributed to peer-reviewed publications and an ASCO oral presentation. That experience keeps my research oriented toward biological mechanism, reproducible computation, and practical disease relevance.

For a detailed timeline, see my experience page.