Assistant Professor
Research Interests:
Computational modeling of cells and tissues; AI over interaction networks and -omics data for disease prognosis; stromal biology of invasion in maternal-fetal disease and cancer; single-cell and spatial transcriptomics; statistical models for heterotypic datasets.
Email: yasir.suhail@uconn.edu
Address:
L7073
University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT
Education:
PhD, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2017
MS, Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2005
B.Tech, Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, 2003
Research Summary:
Dr. Suhail builds statistical and machine learning models of cells and tissues, focusing on how the stroma shapes invasion in maternal-fetal disease and cancer. His NICHD-funded (R00) work develops prognostic models for pre-eclampsia and fetal growth disorders from stromal transcriptomics, using generative models and graph neural networks on single-cell and spatial data. Earlier work traced the evolution of stromal resistance to placental and cancer invasion, and examined how oscillating oxygen (oscillatory hypoxia) changes gene regulation in cancer.
Selected Publications:
- Hubbi ME, Wang CL, Suhail Y, et al. The HIF-2 transcription factor mediates resistance to ferroptosis in pancreatic cancer. Mol Cell. 2026;86(7):1260-1274. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2026.03.007
- Qiu X, Liu Y, Vera-Licona P, Agmon E, Kshitiz, Suhail Y. Hif-1 responsive IFFLs to explain specific transcriptional responses to cycling hypoxia in cancers. npj Syst Biol Appl. 2025. doi:10.1038/s41540-025-00612-z
- Afzal J, Suhail Y, Du W, et al. Evidence for coopetition at the maternal-fetal interface shaping placental invasion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2025. doi:10.1073/pnas.2323038122
- Suhail Y, Du W, Afzal J, Wagner GP, Kshitiz. Identifying genes underlying parallel evolution of stromal resistance to placental and cancer invasion. npj Syst Biol Appl. 2025. doi:10.1038/s41540-025-00577-z
- Du W, Novin A, Liu Y, Afzal J, Suhail Y, et al. Scar matrix drives Piezo1 mediated stromal inflammation leading to placenta accreta spectrum. Nat Commun. 2024. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-52351-0
- Suhail Y, Liu Y, Du W, et al. Oscillatory hypoxia induced gene expression predicts low survival in human breast cancer patients. Mol Carcinog. 2024. doi:10.1002/mc.23810
- Suhail Y, Maziarz JD, Novin A, et al. Tracing the cis-regulatory changes underlying the endometrial control of placental invasion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2022;119(6):e2111256119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2111256119
- Suhail Y, Cain MP, Vanaja K, Kurywchak PA, Levchenko A, Kalluri R, Kshitiz. Systems biology of cancer metastasis. Cell Syst. 2019. doi:10.1016/j.cels.2019.07.003