Research Interests:

With our expertise on neurobiology, biochemistry and metabolism, our ongoing research is aimed to address some of the most important questions in the molecular mechanism underlying the death of neurons or their axons in many neurodegenerative disorders:

(1) How do neurons or their axons respond to different types of damage inflicted by neurodegenerative insults?

(2) How does the change of metabolic status within damaged neurons or their axons determine the degeneration process?

(3) How do the non-neuronal cells (e.g., glial cells) participate in neurodegenerative disorders?

Selected Publications:

Representative Research Papers (*, first author; #, corresponding author):

(1) Liu T, Yang L, Han X, Ding X, Li J, and Yang J#, Local sympathetic innervations modulate the lung innate immune responses. Science Advances. 2020 May 13;6(20):eaay1497.

(2) Wang Q, Liu K, Yang L, Wang H, and Yang J#, BoneClear: Whole-tissue immunolabeling of the intact mouse bones for 3D imaging of neural anatomy and pathology. Cell Research. 2019 Oct;29(10):870-872.

(3) Ding X, Wang H, Qian X, Han X, Yang L, Cao Y, Wang Q, and Yang J#, Panicle-shaped sympathetic architecture in the spleen parenchyma modulates antibacterial innate immunity. Cell Reports. 2019 Jun 25;27(13):3799-3807.

(4) Zhou N, Liu K, Sun Y, Cao Y, and Yang J#, Transcriptional mechanism of IRF8 and PU.1 governs microglial activation in neurodegenerative condition. Protein Cell. 2019 Feb;10(2):87-103.

(5) Zhou N and Yang J#, Molecular Mechanism of Wallerian Degeneration. Chinese Bulletin of Life Sciences. 2017 Mar; 29(3): 245-250.

(6) Yang J*, Wu Z, Renier N, Simon DJ, Uryu K, Park DS, Greer PA, Tournier C, Davis RJ, and Tessier-Lavigne M, Pathological axonal death through a MAPK cascade that triggers a local energy deficit. Cell. 2015 Jan 15;160(1-2):161-76.

(7) Renier N, Wu Z, Simon DJ, Yang J, Ariel P, and Tessier-Lavigne M, iDISCO: a simple, rapid method to immunolabel large tissue samples for volume imaging. Cell. 2014 Nov 6;159(4):896-910.

(8) Yang J*, Weimer RM*, Kallop D, Olsen O, Wu Z, Renier N, Uryu K, and Tessier-Lavigne M, Regulation of axon degeneration after injury and in development by the endogenous calpain inhibitor calpastatin. Neuron. 2013 Dec 4;80(5):1175-89.

(9) Osterloh JM, Yang J, Rooney TM, Fox AN, Adalbert R, Powell EH, Sheehan AE, Avery MA, Hackett R, Logan MA, MacDonald JM, Ziegenfuss JS, Milde S, Hou YJ, Nathan C, Ding A, Brown RH Jr, Conforti L, Coleman M, Tessier-Lavigne M, Züchner S, and Freeman MR, dSarm/Sarm1 is required for activation of an injury-induced axon death pathway. Science. 2012 Jul 27;337(6093):481-4.

(10) Yang J*, Zhao TJ*, Goldstein JL, and Brown MS, Inhibition of ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT) by octanoylated pentapeptides. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 5;105(31):10750-5.

(11) Yang J*, Brown MS, Liang G, Grishin NV, and Goldstein JL, Identification of the acyltransferase that octanoylates ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating peptide hormone. Cell. 2008 Feb 8;132(3):387-96.

Book Chapters:

(1) Cao Y and Yang J, Whole-Tissue Immunolabeling and 3D Fluorescence Imaging to Visualize Axon Degeneration in the Intact, Unsectioned Mouse Tissues. In: Babetto E. (eds) Axon Degeneration. Methods in Molecular Biology, 2020 Jun 11;2143: 223-232. Humana, New York, NY.

(2) Wang F, Yang J, and He Z, Axon maintenance and degeneration. In: Rubenstein J., Rakic P., Chen B., Kwan K.Y., Kolodkin A., and Anton E. (eds) Cellular Migration and Formation of Axons and Dendrites (Second Edition). Comprehensive Developmental Neuroscience, 2020 Jun 5;217-230. Academic Press, Cambridge, MA.

Lab Website: