
Dr Ying Ying Wong
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (B)
School of Biomedicine
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
No information available as at 19/3/2018.
Dr Wong is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Molecular Immunology research group, currently leading the Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) immunogenomics research. In partnership with the ENDIA consortium - a pioneering multi-center pregnancy-birth cohort study—Dr Wong's research tracks disease trajectories longitudinally and identifies driver genes in high-risk children from birth through early childhood. Her work leverages advanced genomic technologies such as bulk and single-cell ATAC-seq, RNA-seq, Hi-C, and multi-omics platforms, and associated high-performance computational bioinformatics.
Since completing her PhD in 2022, Dr Wong's research has primarily been supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Australia and in 2024, she received an international Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Breakthrough T1D (New York), which continues funding her T1D immunogenomics research over the next three years.
Critical unmet need in T1D research: T1D is a childhood-onset chronic autoimmune disease caused by immune system destroying insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells. Currently there is no cure for T1D, and patients require lifelong insulin injections. In Australia, 19-22 healthy years of life are lost per person as a result of ill-health, disability or early death from living with T1D (T1D Index). The reason a child develops T1D is poorly understood but appears to depend on a complex interaction of genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Until T1D is preventable, the search for a cure cannot stop.
Dr Wong's T1D immunogenomics research: With unique bioresource samples spanning birth, before (pre-T1D) and after seroconversion (T1D initiation), to the point of clinical diagnosis, Dr Wong's work identifies which genes and pathways drive the development of T1D, and genetic risk variants (SNPs) that are associated with these changes. She leverages bioinformatics and computational tools to analyze and integrate high-throughput bulk and single-cell transcriptomics, genomics, and multi-omics datasets. Her work focuses not only on the 3D genomic architecture in T1D but also on comprehensive data integration to map interactions between regulatory gene enhancers and their target genes within the genome's 3D space. This approach reveals long-range gene regulation mechanisms and provides insights into T1D pathogenesis. The identified dysregulated gene targets can then be prioritised for testing as preventative or treatment options in new clinical trials.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2024 - ongoing JDRF International Postdoctoral Fellow University of Adelaide 2022 - ongoing Grant-funded researcher University of Adelaide -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2024 Research Award Merit Award for the Highest-scoring grant application (ECR) Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation Australia - 2024 Award ASI Travel Award Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Australia - 2024 Fellowship JDRF International Postdoctoral Fellowship Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International United States - 2023 Award JDRF Career Support and Travel Grant JDRF Australia Australia - 2023 Award Best Postdoctoral Poster Award (3rd prize) | Oz Single Cell 2023 Annual Conference OzSingleCell Consortium Australia - 2023 Award School of Biomedicine Staff Travel Award University of Adelaide Australia - 2023 Award Robinson Research Institute Travel Grant Award University of Adelaide Australia - 2023 Award The Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS) Award European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) France - 2022 Award The Australasian Society for Immunology Bursary Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Australia - 2022 Award Best Post Doctorate Presentation Award Adelaide Immunology Retreat Australia - 2022 Award FHMS Research Travel Award University of Adelaide Australia - 2022 Award BioLegend Best Presentation Award | World immune regulation meeting Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) Switzerland - 2022 Award World Immune Regulation Meeting Travel Grant Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) Switzerland - 2022 Award Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence University of Adelaide Australia - 2022 Award JDRF Career Support and Travel Grant JDRF Australia Australia - 2021 Award The Australasian Society for Immunology Bursary Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Australia - 2019 Award Hans-Jürgen & Marianne Ohff Research Grant University of Adelaide Australia - 2019 Award Robinson Research Institute Travel Grant University of Adelaide Australia - 2018 Award Adelaide Medical School Research Travel Award University of Adelaide Australia - 2017 Scholarship ENDIA Study Supplementary Scholarship ENDIA/University of Adelaide Australia - 2017 Scholarship Adelaide Graduate Research Scholarships University of Adelaide Australia - 2014 Scholarship Adelaide International Undergraduate Scholarships University of Adelaide Australia - -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2017 - 2021 University of Adelaide Australia Doctor of Philosophy 2014 - 2016 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science (Honours) 2010 - 2013 Singapore Polytechnic Singapore Diploma in Biomedical Science (Medical Technology) -
Postgraduate Training
Date Title Institution Country 2024 Unlocking the Power of Single Cell Multiomics Nanyang Technological University Singapore 2024 - 2027 Breakthrough T1D International Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Adelaide Australia 2022 FLASH-seq (scRNA-seq) training and data analysis Single Cell Genomics Platform, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel Switzerland 2019 Epigenomic Data Analysis Freie Universität Berlin Germany 2017 ATAC-seq - Library preparation and bioinformatics Genomics & Immunoregulation, Limes-Institut-Bonn (LIMES) Germany -
Certifications
Date Title Institution name Country — Complete AI and Machine Learning Data Science (2024) Udemy - — Data Manipulation and Visualisation in Python (2024) Intersect Australia - — Developing Positive Partnerships Program (2024) University of Adelaide Australia — Nextflow vs Snakemake (2024) South Australian Genomics Centre - — Commercialisation Essentials Workshop (2023) Cicada Innovations | Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Australia - — Research communication workshop (2022) Animate Your Science - — Learn to Program: Python (2021) Intersect Australia - — Python for Bioinformatics (2018) University of Adelaide Australia — Genomics in R (2018) University of Adelaide Australia — Bayesian Statistics: From Concept to Data Analysis (2018) Coursera - — Intermediate Statistics with R (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — Command Line and Scripting For Bioinformatics (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — Nvivo Intermediate (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — R-Adelaide (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — An Introduction To Genomics In R (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — Introduction to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — Statistical Methods for Research (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — Managing Large Data Lists with Excel (2017) University of Adelaide Australia — People Skills for Rewarding Relationships (2017) University of Adelaide Australia -
Research Interests
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Journals
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Conference Items
2023-2024 Finding Type 1 diabetes (T1D) driver genes, Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation. Grant Amount: $59,000. Role: PI (CI-A).
2024-2027 JDRF International Postdoctoral Fellowship: Finding T1D driver genes: Targets for future therapies, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. Grant Amount: $354,000. Role: PI (CI-A).
2024-2027 Using Multi-omics to turn islet autoimmunity driver genes into therapies, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. Grant Amount: $678,234. Role: Co-I.
2024-2025 Epigenomic Mechanisms of the Maternal Protection in T1D, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Australia. Grant Amount: $799,000. Role: Co-I.
2023-2024 Mapping the Immune defect in Type 1 Diabetes at Single-cell level, Inner Wheel Australia Foundation Trust. Grant Amount: $65,000. Role: PI (CI-A).
2023-2024 Using gene editing and single-cell RNA-seq to investigate FOSL involvement in the breakdown in Treg-mediated immunological tolerance in T1D, Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation. Grant Amount: $100,000. Role: Co-I.
2022-2023 Mapping the Immune defect in Type 1 Diabetes to the immune cells in cord blood, Inner Wheel Australia Foundation Trust. Grant Amount: $65,000. Role: PI (CI-A).
2022-2023 Type 1 diabetes through the lens of single-cell transcriptomics: Turning targets into new therapies, Parse Biosciences Core Grant. Role: PI (CI-A).
2022-2023 Using LentiMPRA a massive parallel reporter assay to link transcriptional control and genetic variation to disease and phenotypic traits, RRI Innovation Seed Funding Program. Grant Amount: $50,000. Co-I.
2021-2023 Using 3D genomics to functionally connect genetic risk of Type 1 diabetes to the genes that drive loss of immune tolerance, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Australia. Grant Amount: $505,000. Role: Co-I.
2021-2022 Connecting the genetic risk of T1D to the genes that are altered by it in immune cells, Diabetes Australia Research Trust. Grant Amount: $50,000. Role: Co-I.
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Committee Memberships
Date Role Committee Institution Country 2024 - ongoing Representative Robinson Research Institute EMCR Council | Biomedical representative University of Adelaide Australia 2023 - ongoing Representative Women in STEM Alumni Network | Executive Committee | Strategic Planning Officer University of Adelaide Australia
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