Yarui Diao

Associate Professor of Cell Biology

My research program, ‘Regeneration Genomics’, is dedicated to unraveling the gene regulatory mechanisms that drive cell fate changes in development and regeneration. In our quest to decode the fundamental principles of gene regulation, I have been developing several cutting-edge genomic tools, such as CREST-seq, CARGO-BioID, HiCAR, and scHiCAR that benefit both our own research and the broader scientific community.

My passion for this research was sparked during my PhD training with Dr. Zhenguo Wu in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where I explored the epigenetic mechanism underlying skeletal muscle regeneration using mice as model organisms. This experience highlighted the crucial role of non-coding gene regulatory elements, such as enhancers, in controlling stem cell fate in regeneration and many diseases. To deepen my research expertise in epigenetics and genomics, I joined Dr. Bing Ren’s lab at UC San Diego (now at New York Genome Center) as a Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Postdoctoral Fellow. As a trainee, I published eight first-authored papers in strong journals, including PNAS, Cell Stem Cell, Dev Cell, Genome Research, Nature Methods, and Nature Genetics, demonstrating my solid training in stem cell biology, regeneration, epigenetics, and genomics.

After my postdoc training, with eight faculty job offers in the US, I decided to establish my independent lab at Duke Cell Biology in September 2018. Since then, I have built a research program focused on both human pluripotent stem cells and muscle stem cells and their “niche” in regeneration, aging, and degenerative disorders, combining mechanistic studies with genomic technologies. Over the past five years, our recent discoveries include: (1) the pathological role of macrophage and FAPs in muscular dystrophy and Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) (Genome Medicine 2023, JVS-VS 2025, Nature Communications, accepted); (2) single cell epigenomics and mechanistic analyses of muscle stem cell self-renewal fate (JCB 2023); (3) the impact of transposable elements on stem cell fate (Nature Genetics 2023, Nature Cell Biology 2025); and (4) the development of novel 3D genome, proteomics, and single cell multi-omics tools to map chromatin architecture and protein–DNA interactions (Molecular Cell 2022, Nature Genetics 2023, Nature Biotechnology, in press). As a PI, I have published ten senior-author papers and contributed to over 20 collaborative publications.

I am also committed to mentoring, teaching, and service. My PhD students have received research awards and progressed to postdoctoral positions in top research institutions in the US, and my former postdocs have obtained tenure-track faculty positions and established their independent labs. At Duke, I have received the Recognition of Teaching Excellence in 2023, 2024. I serve as Co-Chair of the Admissions Committee for the Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) PhD Program. I also co-organized the 2023 Triangle Regenerative Biology Symposium and Duke’s Single Cell Colloquia (2022, 2025) to promote local scientific communications.

Complete list of my published work can be found here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/yarui.diao.1/bibliography/public/

Diao lab website: https://diaolab.github.io/

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Associate Professor of Cell Biology
  • Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Assistant Professor in Pathology
  • Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Hong Kong (China), 2011

Research Interests

1. Gene regulation of muscle regeneration.
2. Genomics technology development.
3. Genetic and epigenetic control of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Genomic Innovator Awards. NIH/NHGRI. 2020
  • Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and AFAR Junior Faculty Award. American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). 2019
  • V Scholar Award. The V Foundation For Cancer Research. 2019
  • Whitehead Scholar. Duke University School of Medicine. 2018
  • Human Frontier Science Program Long-Term Fellowship. HFSP. 2014

Courses Taught

  • UPGEN 778F: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module VI
  • UPGEN 778E: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module V
  • CMB 710E: Cell & Molecular Biology Module V
  • CMB 710D: Cell & Molecular Biology Module IV
  • CELLBIO 493: Research Independent Study

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Cosgrove, Brian D., Lexi R. Bounds, Carson Key Taylor, Alan L. Su, Anthony J. Rizzo, Alejandro Barrera, Tongyu Sun, et al. “Mechanosensitive genomic enhancers potentiate the cellular response to matrix stiffness.” Science 390, no. 6778 (December 11, 2025): eadl1988. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl1988.
  • Anglen, Taylor, Irene M. Kaplow, Baekgyu Choi, Enya Dewars, Robin M. Perelli, Kevin T. Hagy, Duc Tran, et al. “A gene regulatory element modulates myosin expression and controls cardiomyocyte response to stress.” Genome Res 35, no. 11 (November 3, 2025): 2418–32. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.280825.125.
  • Sun, Tongyu, Yueyuan Xu, Nicole Angel, Luna Chen, Kan Zhang, Brenton D. Hoffman, Jianhong Ou, Zhipeng Meng, Shyni Varghese, and Yarui Diao. “A subset of transposable elements as mechano-response enhancer elements in controlling human embryonic stem cell fate.” Nat Cell Biol 27, no. 10 (October 2025): 1785–96. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-025-01770-2.
  • Park, Seongwan, Hyeonji Park, Youkyeong Gloria Byun, Xiaolin Wei, Junghyun Eom, Jaegeon Joo, Andrew J. Lee, Yarui Diao, Won-Suk Chung, and Inkyung Jung. “NR3C1-mediated epigenetic regulation suppresses astrocytic immune responses in mice.” Nat Commun 16, no. 1 (September 22, 2025): 8330. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64088-5.
  • Song, Bicna, Dingyu Liu, Weiwei Dai, Natalie F. McMyn, Qingyang Wang, Dapeng Yang, Adam Krejci, et al. “Decoding heterogeneous single-cell perturbation responses.” Nat Cell Biol 27, no. 3 (March 2025): 493–504. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-025-01626-9.