Qin  Yan, Ph.D.



Assistant Professor of Pathology.


Department of Pathology
Yale University School of Medicine
PO box 802023
310 Cedar St, BML 348C
New Haven CT 06520-8023

Office: (203) 785-6672
Lab: (203) 785-6496
Fax: (203) 785-6127

email: qin.yan@yale.edu


Training:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA with William Kaelin

Ph.D., University of Oklahoma HSC, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Oklahoma City, OK and Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO with Joan and Ronald Conaway, 2002

B.S., University of Science and Technology of China, 1996

Expertise:
Epigenetics, transcription regulation, cancer biology, stem cell biology.

Research Interests:
Stable inheritance of epigenetic states is essential for the maintenance of tissue and cell type specific functions. Aberrations of epigenetic regulation often lead to cancer and other human diseases. Our laboratory is interested in epigenetic regulation by histone demethylases in cancer and stem cells. In particular, we focus on the roles and regulatory mechanisms of histone demethylases for tri- methylated lysine 4 in histone H3 (H3K4me3), the epigenetic mark for transcriptionally active chromatin.

We have previously identified RBP2 (Retinoblastoma Binding Protein 2) as one of the first known histone demethylases for H3K4me3. To understand the in vivo function of this enzyme, we generated an RBP2 null mouse model, which is the first knockout mouse model for lysine demethylases. We are currently studying how this enzyme contributes to oncogenesis using a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and mouse genetics approaches.

The other research directions of our laboratory focus on another H3K4me3 histone demethylase PLU-1. PLU-1 is highly expressed in breast and prostate cancer samples and knockdown of its expression in breast cancer cells impair their ability to form breast tumors in xenograft mouse model. Similar approaches are undertaken to investigate its roles in cancer. Our current data suggest that these enzymes are potential drug targets for cancer therapy.



Professional Service:


Other Links:

Yan Lab
Qin Yan at Yale BBS

Selected Publications:



Yan Q# and Wajapeyee N#. Exploiting cellular senescence to treat cancer and circumvent drug resistance. Cancer Biology and Therapy, 9:166-175 (2010) #corresponding authors

Oevelen CV, Wang J, Asp P, Yan Q, Kaelin WG, Kluger Y, Dynlacht BD. A role for mammalian Sin3 in permanent gene silencing. Mol Cell 32:359-70 (2008)

Klose RJ*, Yan Q*, Tothova Z, Yamane K, Erdjument-Bromage H, Tempst P, Gilliland DG, Zhang Y, Kaelin WG. The retinoblastoma binding protein RBP2 is an H3K4 demethylase. Cell 128:889-900 (2007) *equal contribution

Yang H, Minamishima YA, Yan Q, Schlisio S, Ebert BL, Zhang X, Zhang L, Kim WY, Olumi AF, Kaelin WG. pVHL acts as an adaptor to promote the inhibitory phosphorylation of the NF-kB agonist Card9 by CK2. Mol Cell 28:15-27 (2007)

Li L, Zhang L, Zhang X, Yan Q, Minamishima YA, Olumi A, Mao M, Bartz S, Kaelin WG. HIF linked to differential kidney cancer risk seen with type 2A and type 2B VHL mutations. Mol Cell Biol., 27:5381-92 (2007)

Yan Q, Bartz S, Mao M, Li L, Kaelin WG. The HIF2alpha N-terminal and C-terminal transactivation domains cooperate to promote renal tumorigenesis in vivo. Mol Cell Biol. 27:2092-102 (2007)

Yan Q, Kamura T, Cai Y, Jin J, Ivan M, Mushegian A, Conaway RC, Conaway JW. Identification of Elongin C and Skp1 sequences that determine cullin selection. J. Biol. Chem. 279:43019-26 (2004)

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This page was last modified on: 08/02/2010