Tingxiang Yan

My long-term research interests mainly focus on the causes and novel therapeutic approaches for major neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)), as well as the pathogenic mechanism of disease-related proteins (such as Aβ, Tau, PINK1, PRKN, APOE, TREM2, α-synuclein and TDP43) and how they influence each other. My academic training and research experience to date have provided me with an excellent background in molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry. For my graduate training in Dr. Kexuan Tang’s lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, I majored in the field of molecular biology by studying the transcriptional regulation of artemisinin biosynthesis and glandular trichome formation in Artemisia annual, a plant that is being used in traditional Chinese medicine. During my doctoral studies, I acquired professional skills in molecular biology and biochemistry and gained knowledge in the area of transcription factors, plant metabolism and development. My postdoctoral research in Dr. Xinglong Wang’s laboratory in the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University was mainly focused on AD. During this period, I identified a novel protein, FAM222A, which I was able to link to AD by performing in vitro and in vivo assays. I gained strong expertise about the physiologic and pathologic functions of disease-related proteins in diverse neurodegenerative diseases and deepened and widened my lab skills. Currently, I am a postdoc at Mayo Clinic, Florida, in the lab of Dr. Wolfdieter Springer who is a specialist for the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of PD with a focus on selective mitochondrial autophagy pathways and the role of ubiquitin is this process. My project focuses on the role of the ubiquitin-like proteins for neurodegenerative diseases and selective autophagy pathways.