Yiteng Dang

Yiteng Dang is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) and works in the lab of Jacqueline Tabler. Prior to this, he was an ELBE Postdoctoral Fellow (02/2020-01/2023) at the Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD), the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) and the He currently works with the theoretical physics group of Steffen Rulands (MPI-PKS) and the developmental biology lab of Jacqueline Tabler (MPI-CBG). After studying physics and mathematics for his bachelor's at Utrecht University, he received a master's in applied maths and theoretical physics (Part III of the Mathematical Tripos) at the University of Cambridge and did the second year of the ICPF master with specialisation in quantum physics at ENS Paris. For his PhD, he joined the lab of Hyun Youk at the TU Delft, where he developed theoretical frameworks for individual-based models for pattern formation and collective dynamics in systems of communicating cells. Overall, his research focuses on understanding biology through theoretical and computational approaches inspired by physics, in particular in the context of multicellular systems and during development. His current research has two major directions: (1) understanding morphogenesis by developing biophysical theories and analysing quantitative imaging data, (2) using computational approaches to study cell fate decisions from single-cell genomics and lineage tracing data. He collaborates with multiple experimental biology labs on interdisciplinary projects that combine quantitative experiments with biophysics, computational modelling and bioinformatics.