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:
- 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
- they take advantage of the high-speed BAC transgenic system to systematically test candidate dominant genetic modifiers of HD in mice.
- they use BAC transgenesis to introduce known PD mutations into mice to develop mouse models for Parkinson’s Disease
Publications
- Wang, N, Zhang, S, Langfelder, P, Ramanathan, L, Plascencia, M, Gao, F et al.. Msh3 and Pms1 Set Neuronal CAG-repeat Migration Rate to Drive Selective Striatal and Cortical Pathogenesis in HD Mice. bioRxiv. 2024; :. doi: 10.1101/2024.07.09.602815. PubMed PMID:39026894 PubMed Central PMC11257559.
- DiFiglia, M, Leavitt, BR, Macdonald, D, Thompson, LM, Huntington’s Disease Nomenclature Working Group: . Towards Standardizing Nomenclature in Huntington's Disease Research. J Huntingtons Dis. 2024;13 (2):119-131. doi: 10.3233/JHD-240044. PubMed PMID:38968054 .
- Zou, ZB, Li, Y, Wang, Y, Xie, CL, Li, ZQ, Nie, SS et al.. Stephaochratidin A, a Rare Stephacidin-Asperochratide Hybrid with Ferroptosis Inhibitory Activity from the Deep-Sea-Derived Aspergillus ochraceus. Org Lett. 2024;26 (27):5695-5699. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01745. PubMed PMID:38912656 .
- Park, J, Wang, J, Guan, W, Gjesteby, LA, Pollack, D, Kamentsky, L et al.. Integrated platform for multiscale molecular imaging and phenotyping of the human brain. Science. 2024;384 (6701):eadh9979. doi: 10.1126/science.adh9979. PubMed PMID:38870291 .
- Xu, WK, Zhao, CX, Yang, XW, Chen, YG, Long, LP, Yan, YF et al.. Characterization of a glycosyltransferase from Paris polyphylla for application in biosynthesis of rare ophiopogonins and ginsenosides. Phytochemistry. 2024;225 :114173. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2024.114173. PubMed PMID:38851474 .