Nan Yang | Mount Sinai - New York
Nan Yang

Nan Yang, PhD

About Me

Dr. Yang is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, a member at Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Friedman Brain Insititute and Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer's Disease. Her laboratory is focused on the understanding of the molecular programs that control the development of distinct cell types in the brain and the developing of approaches using human stem cells combined of gene editing to advance our knowledge of the fundamental processes underlying human neural development in normal and pathological conditions. They use in vitro 2D and 3D models to decipher the phenotypic consequences of disease-causing mutations in human neurons and other neural lineages as well as the development of novel therapeutic gene targeting and cell transplantation-based strategies for numerous neuropsychiatric disorders.

Learn more about the Yang Laboratory.

Language
English
Position
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR | Neuroscience
Research Topics

Alzheimer's Disease, Autism, Cell Biology, Cellular Differentiation, Chromatin, Developmental Neurobiology, Epigenetics, Epigenomics, Gene Regulation, Gene editing, Induced pluripotent stem cells, Molecular Biology, Myelination, Neuroscience, Parkinson's Disease, Psychiatry, Regeneration, Reprogramming, Schizophrenia, Stem Cells, Synapses, Synaptogenesis

Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas

Development Regeneration and Stem Cells [DRS], Neuroscience [NEU]

Education

Exchange student, University of California, San Francisco
PhD, Fundan University
Postdoctoral, Stanford University

Awards

2014

NARSAD Young Investigator

Research

Advances in human genetics and next-generation sequencing have permitted the identification of a stunning number of genetic variants that are linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), providing a platform for unraveling the causal chain of events that result in the disorder. However, the availability of data is not synonymous with the presence of meaning. Indeed, the challenge researchers are facing now is the derivation of biological meaning post-GWAS. Particularly, an increasing number of risk-associated variants are found in non-coding sequences. We use stem cell modeling system, genome engineering, CRISPR-mediated epigenetic editing, and state-of-the-art single-cell sequencing technology to determine the molecular impact of such non-coding sequence alterations.

Locations