Dr. Nieng Yan

School of medicine, Tsinghua University

Abstract：

It is estimated that approximately 30% of the coding genes in human genome are for integral membrane proteins, which play an essential role in a multitude of processes of all kingdoms of life. Membrane proteins also constitute the major drug targets. Approximately 50% of the FDA-approved drugs target membrane proteins. Therefore, information on the structure and mechanism of membrane proteins is invaluable to both biological understanding and potential medical application. Unfortunately, due to the daunting technical challenges, it has been extremely difficult to conduct biochemical and structural studies on membrane protein. In this lecture, I will present an overview on the progress of structural study of membrane proteins, followed by an in-depth discussion on the voltage-gated sodium channel, an ongoing project in my lab.

Bio-Sketch:

Dr. Yan received her B.S degree in the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2000. She then pursued her Ph.D degree in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University under the supervision of Prof. Yigong Shi between 2000 and 2004. She was the regional winner of the Young Scientist Award (North America) co-sponsored by Science/AAAS and GE Healthcare in 2005 for her thesis on the structural and mechanistic study of programmed cell death. She continued her postdoctoral training at Princeton University, focusing on the structural characterization of intramembrane proteases. In 2007, she joined the faculty of School of Medicine, Tsinghua University. In 2012, she was promoted to tenured professor. She is also an HHMI international early career scientist.

Time：10:00-12:00,November 2nd,2012

Venue:1512#,YiFu Technology and Science Building