BABS - Staff Profile for H. Robert Yang


B. Med. (Peking Univ.), Ph. D (Columbia)
Senior Lecturer


Room No.	206
Office	Floor 2, Biological Sciences Bldg
Phone	9385 8133
Fax	9385 1483
Email	h.rob.yang@unsw.edu.au

Research Description

Dr. Yang’s lab is interested in understanding:

1. the intracellular trafficking of sterols and other lipid species
2. the biogenesis and metabolism of cellular lipid droplets/bodies.

Aberrant trafficking of sterols is associated with atherosclerosis and certain neurodegenerative diseases whereas accumulation of lipid droplets is a hallmark of human obesity. Currently, we are examining the roles of oxysterol binding proteins, AAA ATPases and Niemann Pick C1 protein in sterol trafficking, and their physical and functional interactions. We are also studying yeast mutants that either lack or accumulate lipid droplets.

Selected Publications

Yang, H., Bard, M., Bruner, D. A., Gleeson, A., Deckelbaum, R. J., Aljinovic, G., Pohl, T., Rothstein, R., and Sturley, S. L. (1996). Sterol Esterification in Yeast: A two gene process. Science 272, 1353-1356.
Zhang Q, Chieu HK, Low CP, Zhang S, Heng CK and Yang H. (2003) Schizosaccharomyces pombe Cells Deficient in Triacylglycerols Synthesis Undergo Apoptosis upon Entry into the Stationary Phase. J Biol. Chem. 278(47): 47145-55.
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.
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
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 J. 2272(18): 4703-15.
Yang H. (2006) Intracellular sterol transport, two protein families and a sterol sensor? Trends in Cell Biology. 16: 427-32.

Teaching Responsibilities