Yun-Xing Wang, Ph.D.

Yun-Xing Wang is a structural biologist who pioneered the combined use of NMR spectroscopy, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), diffraction and other biophysical methods to study RNA structural biology. His laboratory research places emphases on solving long-standing important structural biology questions and uses the gained knowledge to develop diagnostic and therapeutic agents for cancer and HIV/AIDS. His laboratory also invented the first RNA labeling “machine”.
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1) RNA structural biology, 2) protein structural biology, 3) NMR, 4) SAXS, 5) X-ray free electron laser and serial crystallography
Contact Info
Center for Cancer Research
National Cancer Institute
Bldg. 538/Room 128
Frederick, MD 27102-1201
Ph: 301-846-5985
wangyunx@mail.nih.gov
My laboratory studies the RNA structural biology. We use biophysical methods, including NMR spectroscopy, SAXS, and X-ray diffraction, to determine RNA three-dimensional structures or topological folds and to understand RNA function. Our studies provide insight at the atomic level into fundamental mechanisms of RNA biological functions. This knowledge is the key to the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic reagents for cancer and AIDS.
RNA function is coded in its three-dimensional structures and dynamics. To characterize RNA in four-dimensional space, we have resorted to new technologies that allow us to study ever more challenging problems. For this reason, our laboratory has developed Position-selective Labeling of RNA (PLOR) technology, which can be applied for structural biology studies, imaging and disease detection. Currently, we are developing a new approach using X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) to study RNA structures and dynamics.
Selected Recent Publications
- Nat Protoc. 13(5): 987-1005, 2018. [ Journal Article ]
- Nature. 541(7636): 242-6, 2017. [ Journal Article ]
- Nat Chem Biol. 12(3): 126-7, 2016. [ Journal Article ]
- Curr Opin Struct Biol. 30: 147-60, 2015. [ Journal Article ]
- Nature. 522(7556): 368-72, 2015. [ Journal Article ]
Dr. Wang conducted his graduate work on structure determination of fragments of 23S rRNA using NMR spectroscopy and UV-melting experiments in Professor David E. Draper's lab of the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. in October 1994 from the Johns Hopkins University. From 1994 to 2000 he was an NIH postdoctoral later a research fellow in Dr. Dennis Torchia's laboratory where he studied the structure, hydration dynamics of HIV-1 protease in complex with inhibitors and elucidated the 3D structure and a new function of the antitumor/anti-HIV protein MAP30. In the late 2000 he then joined the Structural Biophysics Laboratory of NCI. Using high field NMR spectroscopy and other biophysical and biochemical methods, his group studies the functional structural biology of RNAs and proteins.
Name | Position |
---|---|
Jason R. Stagno, Ph.D. | Associate Scientist |
Ping Yu | Biologist |
Szu-Yun (Joanne) Chen | Special Volunteer |
Jienyu Ding Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Fellow (Visiting) |
Vibha Dwivedi Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Fellow (Visiting) |
Lixin Fan, Ph.D. | Senior Scientist (Leidos), SAXS Core Facility |
Yun-Tzai Lee Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Fellow (Visiting), SAXS Core Facility |
Saminathan Ramakrishnan Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Fellow (Visiting) |