Colin McCornack

Program: Computational and Systems Biology

Current advisor: Ting Wang, PhD

Undergraduate university: Michigan State University, 2018

Enrollment year: 2019

Research summary
Impact of epigenetic therapy on transposable elements

Broadly, the focus of my research in the Wang lab involves investigating a) the regulation of transposable element expression/cryptic promoter recruitment in the context of epigenetic therapy (such as DNA methyltransferase inhibition and histone posttranslational modifying enzyme inhibition), b) changes to transcription factor recruitment and regulation in the context of epigenetic therapy, with a specific focus on p53-driven transcriptional activation and repression

Graduate publications
Qu X, Liang Y, McCornack C, Xing X, Schmidt H, Tomlinson C, Fronick C, Belter EA Jr, Macias-Velasco JF, Wang. 2025 Charting the regulatory landscape of TP53 on transposable elements in cancer. Genome Res, 35(6):1456-71. PMCID: PMC12129084

Ishahak M, Han RH, Annamalai D, Woodiwiss T, McCornack C, Cleary RT, DeSouza PA, Qu X, Dahiya S, Kim AH, Millman JR. 2025 Genetically Engineered Brain Organoids Recapitulate Spatial and Developmental States of Glioblastoma Progression. Adv Sci (Weinh), 12(10):e2410110. PMCID: PMC11905097

Pugazenthi S, Patel B, English CW, Leidig WA, McGeehan KP, McCornack CR, Mok S, Anzaldua-Campos M, Nouri SH, Roberts K, Chatrath A, Khan A, Gadot R, Yano H, Klisch TJ, Harmanci AS, Patel AJ, Kim AH. 2024 Multiomic and clinical analysis of multiply recurrent meningiomas reveals risk factors, underlying biology, and insights into evolution. Sci Adv, 10(43):eadn4419. PMCID: PMC11498213

Sun R, Han R, McCornack C, Khan S, Tabor GT, Chen Y, Hou J, Jiang H, Schoch KM, Mao DD, Cleary R, Yang A, Liu Q, Luo J, Petti A, Miller TM, Ulrich JD, Holtzman DM, Kim AH. 2023 TREM2 inhibition triggers antitumor cell activity of myeloid cells in glioblastoma. Sci Adv, 9(19):eade3559. PMCID: PMC10181199