Yang, Xiangdong William, M.D., Ph.D.

Research

Mouse molecular genetics are used to study the pathogenesis and develop treatment for neurodegenerative diseases

Appointments

• Professor, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences

Biography

Yang is interested in using the mouse genetic approach to study the pathogenesis and to identify potential therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly for Huntington’s Disease (HD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

Yang and his colleagues focus on the following projects:

1. in order to understand how mutant Huntington acts to result in a wide variety of clinical symptoms ranging from psychiatric, cognitive to motor deficits, they generate and analyze brain regional-specific models of HD in mice
2. they take advantage of the high-speed BAC transgenic system to systematically test candidate dominant genetic modifiers of HD in mice.
3. they use BAC transgenesis to introduce known PD mutations into mice to develop mouse models for Parkinson’s Disease

Publications

1. Jiang, M, Wang, J, Fu, J, Du, L, Jeong, H, West, T et al.. Author Correction: Neuroprotective role of Sirt1 in mammalian models of Huntington's disease through activation of multiple Sirt1 targets. Nat Med. 2025; :. doi: 10.1038/s41591-025-04072-0. PubMed PMID:41298917 .
2. Ye, CJ, Liu, LN, Lu, MN, Hu, T, Zhou, Y, Wang, D et al.. Peptide OM-LV20 demonstrates neuroprotective effects by attenuating mitochondria-mediated neuronal apoptosis and dysfunction in mice with traumatic brain injury. Zool Res. 2025;46 (6):1447-1464. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.152. PubMed PMID:41298299 .
3. Park, CS, Yan, M, Zhu, M, Akram, MA, Foster, NN, Bennecke, A et al.. Dendritome mapping reveals the spatial organization of striatal neuron morphology. Nat Neurosci. 2025; :. doi: 10.1038/s41593-025-02085-z. PubMed PMID:41174172 .
4. Ru, ZQ, Wu, YT, Yang, CY, Yang, YT, Li, YJ, Liu, M et al.. Ultra-short cyclic peptide Cy _RL-QN15 acts as a TLR4 antagonist to expedite oral ulcer healing. Zool Res. 2025;46 (5):1187-1202. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.211. PubMed PMID:41017403 .
5. Croce, KR, Ng, C, Pankiv, S, Albarran, E, Langfelder, P, Ramos de Jesus, A et al.. A rare genetic variant confers resistance to neurodegeneration across multiple neurological disorders by augmenting selective autophagy. Neuron. 2025;113 (22):3780-3797.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.08.018. PubMed PMID:40945514 PubMed Central PMC12435916.

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