Dr Tianyi Zhang

• DPhil in Biochemistry, University of Oxford 2017
• MRes in Structural Molecular Biology, Imperial College London 2012
• BSc in Biochemistry, University of Ottawa 2011

Tianyi earned a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa before moving to the UK to pursue an MRes in Structural Molecular Biology, where she trained with Xiaodong Zhang and Paul Freemont at Imperial College London. Tianyi completed a PhD with Neil Brockdorff at the University of Oxford, funded by a Clarendon Scholarship and an NSERC Canada Graduate Research Scholarship. Her PhD research focused on uncovering novel chromatin readers of H3K36 methylation and identified an important role for the PWWP2A-NuRD complex in safeguarding transcriptional integrity.

In 2019, Tianyi was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Matthias Merkenschlager and David Rueda at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences. There, she studied how the haematopoietic transcription factor Ikaros cooperates with chromatin corepressors to regulate gene expression in B-cell differentiation and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

In 2025, Tianyi established an independent research programme at University of Birmingham, supported by the Birmingham Springboard Fellowship and a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award. Her group’s research focuses on chromatin-mediated mechanisms of genome regulation and epigenetic dysregulation in blood cancers. Tianyi is passionate about science communication and research environment, and is actively involved in initiatives promoting science outreach, developing early career researchers, and supporting women and minorities in STEM.

The incredible diversity of cell types in multicellular organisms arises from the precise control of gene expression, a process that governs cellular development, identity, and function. Eukaryotes which store DNA in the form of chromatin have evolved an additional layer of control, in which transcription factors (TFs) and chromatin-modifying factors shape the chromatin state to activate or repress gene expression. Disruption of these epigenetic mechanisms is a hallmark of many diseases, particularly cancer, where genes coding for TFs and chromatin regulators are recurrently mutated and epigenetic dysregulation is common even in the absence of genetic alterations.

We aim to understand how gene regulatory and chromatin-based mechanisms control cell fate decisions and how these processes become altered in disease. Our current research focuses on understanding how TFs interact with and recruit chromatin-modifying complexes to specific-regulatory sites in the genome, and how cooperativity and antagonism between TFs, activators and repressors influence chromatin dynamics and gene regulatory networks in both healthy and cancer contexts. Ultimately, these molecular insights will inform the development of therapies to correct epigenetic dysregulation in human disease. We use a range of approaches including biochemistry, protein structure prediction and modelling, genomics, proteomics, single-molecule and advanced imaging techniques, and are always interested in exploring new technologies to address these research questions. Based in the Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, we collaborate closely with research groups and clinicians with shared interests in genome biology and cancer research at the University of Birmingham and institutes across the UK.

Our current research programme is supported by Wellcome funding and available research associate positions will be advertised on academic portals. We are also keen to support fellowship applications from talented researchers and enquires with CVs are welcome.

Further information on funding and publications can be found below:

ORCID Profile 

Google Scholar Profile