Associate Professor (Hongyuan) Rob Yang
- Position: Associate Professor
- Room: 206, Biological Sciences
- Phone: (+61 2) 9385 8133
- Fax: (+61 2) 9385 1483
- email: h.rob.yang@unsw.edu.au
ARC Future Fellow 2010-2013
Education
- Bachelor of Medicine (1993), Peking University, Beijing
- PhD (1998), Columbia University, New York, USA
Professional Experience
- Visiting Fellow, Harvard University (April 1999-July 1999)
- Lecturer/Assistant Professor/Associate Professor with tenure (1999-2007), Department of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore
Research Contribution
My long-term research interests focus on two fundamental yet emerging areas in cell and medical biology: (1) The biogenesis and dynamics of lipid droplets, mechanisms of lipotoxicity, obesity and diabetes; (2) Intracellular sterol sorting and transport, and its role in heart and neurodegenerative diseases.
I have been working on lipid metabolism for 14 years, and have published as a first or senior author in high impact journals. In the area of lipid droplets and obesity, my early work led to the identification of two key enzymes that catalyse sterol esterification, an important homeostatic step for storing excess sterols (Yang et al, Science, 1996). This was a landmark study that initiated the discovery of the ACAT/DGAT1 family of acyltransferases that mediate the synthesis of triglycerides.
In 2003, our laboratory demonstrated that eukaryotic cells unable to synthesise triacylglycerols underwent programmed cell death, highlighting the importance of storage neutral lipids and lipid droplets in cell physiology (Zhang et al, JCB, 2003). In 2005, I was invited to write a book chapter on the metabolism of neutral lipids, a key determinant of the dynamics of cellular lipid droplets.
In a remarkable study, our group recently identified many novel regulators of the number and morphology of lipid droplets, and part of this effort has been published in the Journal of Cell Biology (Fei et al, JCB, 2008; also see Fei et al, Eukaryotic Cell, 2008). Following the online publication of our article in JCB I was approached by the Nature/Science Business Exchange for a commentary.
My research on lipid droplets has a translational relevance that stretches from obesity to biofuels.
In the area of sterol trafficking, my group identified novel molecules and schemes that govern cellular sterol transport (Zhang et al, Traffic, 2004; Wang et al., EMBO J, 2005; Yang H, Trends Cell Biol, 2006). I was subsequently awarded an NHMRC grant and a grant of more than US$200,000 by the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation based in Tucson, Arizona. I was chosen over researchers from well-known US institutions such as Columbia University, other awardees being professors from Stanford and Cornell Universities.
Honours & Awards
- Inaugural ARC Future Fellowship (2010-2014)
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Research Excellence Young Scientist Award (2006)
- Finalist, Singapore National Young Scientist Award (2005)
- National University of Singapore (NUS) Technopreneurship 21 Award (2004)
- National University of Singapore (NUS) Young Scientist Award (2002)
- Member of Editorial Board, BBA Molecular Cell Lipids
- Editorial Advisor, Biochemical Journal
Active Research Projects
Publications
- Fei W, Wang H, Fu X, Bielby C & Yang H (2009)
- Conditions of endoplasmic reticulum stress stimulate lipid droplet formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
- Biochem J. Aug 26. [Epub ahead of print]
- Low CP and Yang H. (2008)
- Programmed Cell Death in Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe .
- BBA-Molecular Cell Research. Feb 15; [Epub ahead of print]
- Fei W, Alfaro G, Muthusamy BP, Klaassen Z, Graham TR, Yang H, Beh CT. (2008)
- Genome-wide analysis of sterol-lipid storage and trafficking in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
- Eukaryotic Cell.; 7(2): 401-14
- Low CP, Shui GH, Liew LP, Buttner S, Madeo F, Dawes IW, Wenk MR & Yang H, (2008)
- Caspase-dependent and -independent lipotoxic cell-death pathways in fission yeast.
- J Cell Sci. 121: 2671-2684. (Selected as an editorial highlight by JCS)
- Kristiana, I., Yang, H.Y. and Brown, A.J. (2008)
- Different kinetics of cholesterol delivery to components of the cholesterol homeostatic machinery: Implications for cholesterol trafficking to the endoplasmic reticulum.
- Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta-Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids. 1781: 724-730.
- Toh, S.Y., Gong, J., Du, G., Li, P., Yang, S., Ye, J., Yao, H., Yan, J., Xue, B., Li, Q., Yang, H., Wen, Z .and Li, P. (2008)
- Up-regulation of mitochondrial activity and acquirement of brown adipose tissue-like property in the white adipose tissue of Fsp27 deficient mice
- PLoS One. 3:
- Fei W, Shui G, Gaeta B, Du X, Kuerschner L, Li P, Brown AJ, Wenk MR, Parton RG & Yang H (2008)
- Fld1p, a functional homologue of human seipin, regulates the size of lipid droplets in yeast.
- J. Cell Biol. 180: 473-482. (Selected as an editorial highlight by JCB)
- Yang H. (2006)
- Nonvesicular sterol transport: two protein families and a sterol sensor?
- Trends Cell Biol. 16: 427-32
- Wang P, Duan, W., Munn AL and Yang H. (2005)
- Molecular characterization of Osh6p, an oxysterol binding protein homolog in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
- FEBS Journal (European Journal of Biochemistry), 272(18): 4703-15.
- Wang P, Zhang Y, Li H, Chieu HK, Munn AL and Yang H. (2005)
- AAA ATPases Regulate Membrane Association of Yeast Oxysterol Binding Proteins and Cellular Sterol Metabolism
- EMBO Journal. 24(17): 2989-99
- Zhang S., Ren J., Zhang Q., Armstrong J.S., Munn A.L. and Yang H (2004)
- Ncr1p, the yeast ortholog of mammalian Niemann Pick C1 protein, is dispensable for endocytic transport
- Traffic, 5(12): 1017-1030