Professor Nieng Yan
Visiting Professorial Fellow

Professor Nieng Yan

Science
School of Biotech & Biomolecular Science

Biography

Dr Nieng Yan received her B.S. degree from the Department of Biological Sciences & Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2000. She then pursued her PhD in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University under the supervision of Prof. Yigong Shi between 2000 and 2004. She was the regional winner of the Young Scientist Award (North America) co-sponsored by Science/AAAS and GE Healthcare in 2005 for her thesis on the structural and mechanistic study of programmed cell death.

Dr Yan continued her postdoctoral training at Princeton University, focusing on the structural characterization of intramembrane proteases. In 2007, she joined the faculty of School of Medicine, Tsinghua University. Her lab has been mainly focusing on the structural and functional study of membrane transport proteins exemplified by the glucose transporters and Nav/Cavchannels. In 2012 and 2013, she was promoted to tenured professor and Bayer Endowed Chair Professor, respectively.

Dr Yan returned to Princeton University as the founding Shirley M. Tilghman Professor of Molecular Biology in 2017. Dr. Yan was an HHMI international early career scientist in 2012-2017, the recipient of the 2015 Protein Society Young Investigator Award, the 2015 Beverley & Raymond Sackler International Prize in Biophysics, the Alexander M. Cruickshank Award at the GRC on membrane transport proteins in 2016, the 2018 FAOBMB Award for Research Excellence, and the 2019 Weizmann Women & Science Award. She was elected as a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2019.

Professor Yan joined the School for Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences in the Faculty of Science as a Visiting Professorship under the UNSW SHARP Program in 2019.

  • Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'A structure of human scap bound to insig-2 suggests how their interaction is regulated by sterols', Science, 371, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abb2224
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Comparative structural analysis of human Nav1.1 and Nav1.5 reveals mutational hotspots for sodium channelopathies', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2100066118
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Orthosteric–allosteric dual inhibitors of PfHT1 as selective antimalarial agents', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2017749118
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Structural Basis for Pore Blockade of the Human Cardiac Sodium Channel Nav1.5 by the Antiarrhythmic Drug Quinidine**', Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 60, pp. 11474 - 11480, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.202102196
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Structural Basis for the Modulation of Ryanodine Receptors', Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 46, pp. 489 - 501, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2020.11.009
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Structural Basis of the Modulation of the Voltage-Gated Calcium Ion Channel Cav1.1 by Dihydropyridine Compounds**', Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 60, pp. 3131 - 3137, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.202011793
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Structure of human Nav1.5 reveals the fast inactivation-related segments as a mutational hotspot for the long QT syndrome', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2100069118
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Cryo-EM analysis of a membrane protein embedded in the liposome', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117, pp. 18497 - 18503, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009385117
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Employing NaChBac for cryo-EM analysis of toxin action on voltage-gated Na+ channels in nanodisc', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Structural Basis for Blocking Sugar Uptake into the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum', Cell, 183, pp. 258 - 268.e12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.015
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Structural Basis of Low-pH-Dependent Lysosomal Cholesterol Egress by NPC1 and NPC2', Cell
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Structural and functional diversity calls for a new classification of ABC transporters', FEBS Letters, 594, pp. 3767 - 3775, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.13935
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Structural basis for catalysis and substrate specificity of human ACAT1', Nature, 581, pp. 333 - 338, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2290-0
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Structural basis of ion transport and inhibition in ferroportin', Nature Communications, 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19458-6
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Structure and mechanism of human diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1', Nature, 581, pp. 329 - 332
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'Engineered XylE as a tool for mechanistic investigation and ligand discovery of the glucose transporters GLUTs', Cell Discov, 5, pp. 14 - 14, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41421-019-0082-1
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'Structures of human Nav1.7 channel in complex with auxiliary subunits and animal toxins', Science, 363, pp. 1303 - 1308
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'The shape of human squalene epoxidase expands the arsenal against cancer', Nat Commun, 10, pp. 888 - 888, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08866-y
    Journal articles | 2018
    2018, 'Crystallization and Structural Determination of the Human Glucose Transporters GLUT1 and GLUT3', Methods Mol. Biol., 1713, pp. 15 - 29
    Journal articles | 2018
    2018, 'Human SEIPIN Binds Anionic Phospholipids', Dev. Cell, 47, pp. 248 - 256, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2018.09.010
    Journal articles | 2018
    2018, 'Structural basis for the modulation of voltage-gated sodium channels by animal toxins', Science, 362, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aau2596
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Dimeric structure of the uracil:proton symporter UraA provides mechanistic insights into the SLC4/23/26 transporters', Cell Res., 27, pp. 1020 - 1033
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Molecular determinants for the thermodynamic and functional divergence of uniporter GLUT1 and proton symporter XylE', PLoS Comput. Biol., 13, pp. e1005603 - e1005603, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005603
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Structure of the Human Lipid Exporter ABCA1', Cell, 169, pp. 1228 - 1239
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Structure of the Nav1.4-β1 Complex from Electric Eel', Cell, 170, pp. 470 - 482
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Structure-Function Relationship of the Voltage-Gated Calcium Channel Cav1.1 Complex', Adv. Exp. Med. Biol., 981, pp. 23 - 39
    Journal articles | 2016
    2016, 'Complex structure of the fission yeast SREBP-SCAP binding domains reveals an oligomeric organization', Cell Res., 26, pp. 1197 - 1211
    Journal articles | 2016
    2016, 'Crystal structure of a LacY-nanobody complex in a periplasmic-open conformation', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 113, pp. 12420 - 12425, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1615414113
    Journal articles | 2016
    2016, 'GLUT, SGLT, and SWEET: Structural and mechanistic investigations of the glucose transporters', Protein Sci., 25, pp. 546 - 558
    Journal articles | 2016
    2016, 'Structural Insights into the Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1)-Mediated Cholesterol Transfer and Ebola Infection', Cell, 165, pp. 1467 - 1478
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Crystal structure of a mycobacterial Insig homolog provides insight into how these sensors monitor sterol levels', Science, 349, pp. 187 - 191, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1091
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Hopes for the year ahead', Nature, 517, pp. 111 - 113
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Molecular basis of ligand recognition and transport by glucose transporters', Nature, 526, pp. 391 - 396, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14655
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'PROTEIN STRUCTURE. Crystal structure of a mycobacterial Insig homolog provides insight into how these sensors monitor sterol levels', Science, 349, pp. 187 - 191
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Specific RNA recognition by designer pentatricopeptide repeat protein', Mol Plant, 8, pp. 667 - 670
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Structural Biology of the Major Facilitator Superfamily Transporters', Annu Rev Biophys, 44, pp. 257 - 283
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Structure of the WD40 domain of SCAP from fission yeast reveals the molecular basis for SREBP recognition', Cell Res., 25, pp. 401 - 411
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Structure of the rabbit ryanodine receptor RyR1 at near-atomic resolution', Nature, 517, pp. 50 - 55
    Journal articles | 2015
    2015, 'Structure of the voltage-gated calcium channel Cav1.1 complex', Science, 350, pp. aad2395 - aad2395
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'Crystal structure of a bacterial homologue of SWEET transporters', Cell Res., 24, pp. 1486 - 1489
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'Crystal structure of the human glucose transporter GLUT1', Nature, 510, pp. 121 - 125
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'Examination of the dimerization states of the single-stranded RNA recognition protein pentatricopeptide repeat 10 (PPR10)', J. Biol. Chem., 289, pp. 31503 - 31512
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'Functional architecture of MFS D-glucose transporters', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 111, pp. E719 - 727
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'Identification and characterization of ABA receptors in Oryza sativa', PLoS ONE, 9, pp. e95246 - e95246
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'Revisiting the TALE repeat', Protein Cell, 5, pp. 297 - 306
    Journal articles | 2014
    2014, 'The recombinant expression systems for structure determination of eukaryotic membrane proteins', Protein Cell, 5, pp. 658 - 672
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'Analysis of the selectivity filter of the voltage-gated sodium channel Na(v)Rh', Cell Res., 23, pp. 409 - 422, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/cr.2012.173
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'Evolutionary mix-and-match with MFS transporters', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 110, pp. 5870 - 5874
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'Molecular basis for the selective and ABA-independent inhibition of PP2CA by PYL13', Cell Res., 23, pp. 1369 - 1379
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'Structural advances for the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporters', Trends Biochem. Sci., 38, pp. 151 - 159
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'Structural basis for the modular recognition of single-stranded RNA by PPR proteins', Nature, 504, pp. 168 - 171
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'Structural investigation of the proton-coupled secondary transporters', Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol., 23, pp. 483 - 491
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'The conformational shifts of the voltage sensing domains between Na(v)Rh and Na(v)Ab', Cell Res., 23, pp. 444 - 447
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'The mechanism of Na⁺/K⁺ selectivity in mammalian voltage-gated sodium channels based on molecular dynamics simulation', Biophys. J., 104, pp. 2401 - 2409
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Crystal structure of a bacterial homologue of glucose transporters GLUT1-4', Nature, 490, pp. 361 - 366
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Crystal structure of an orthologue of the NaChBac voltage-gated sodium channel', Nature, 486, pp. 130 - 134
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Dynamics of the L-fucose/H+ symporter revealed by fluorescence spectroscopy', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 109, pp. 14847 - 14851
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Molecular mechanism for inhibition of a critical component in the Arabidopsis thaliana abscisic acid signal transduction pathways, SnRK2.6, by protein phosphatase ABI1', J. Biol. Chem., 287, pp. 794 - 802
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Recognition of methylated DNA by TAL effectors', Cell Res., 22, pp. 1502 - 1504
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Specific DNA-RNA hybrid recognition by TAL effectors', Cell Rep, 2, pp. 707 - 713
    Journal articles | 2012
    2012, 'Structural basis for sequence-specific recognition of DNA by TAL effectors', Science, 335, pp. 720 - 723
    Journal articles | 2011
    2011, 'A small-molecule screen identifies L-kynurenine as a competitive inhibitor of TAA1/TAR activity in ethylene-directed auxin biosynthesis and root growth in Arabidopsis', Plant Cell, 23, pp. 3944 - 3960
    Journal articles | 2011
    2011, 'Structure and mechanism of the uracil transporter UraA', Nature, 472, pp. 243 - 246
    Journal articles | 2011
    2011, 'The molecular basis of ABA-independent inhibition of PP2Cs by a subclass of PYL proteins', Mol. Cell, 42, pp. 662 - 672
    Journal articles | 2010
    2010, 'Crystal structure of the Caenorhabditis elegans apoptosome reveals an octameric assembly of CED-4', Cell, 141, pp. 446 - 457
    Journal articles | 2010
    2010, 'Functional mechanism of the abscisic acid agonist pyrabactin', J. Biol. Chem., 285, pp. 28946 - 28952
    Journal articles | 2010
    2010, 'Single amino acid alteration between valine and isoleucine determines the distinct pyrabactin selectivity by PYL1 and PYL2', J. Biol. Chem., 285, pp. 28953 - 28958
    Journal articles | 2010
    2010, 'Structure of a fucose transporter in an outward-open conformation', Nature, 467, pp. 734 - 738
    Journal articles | 2009
    2009, 'Caenorhabditis elegans caspase homolog CSP-2 inhibits CED-3 autoactivation and apoptosis in germ cells', Cell Death and Differentiation, 16, pp. 1385 - 1394, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/cdd.2009.88
    Journal articles | 2009
    2009, 'Structural insights into the mechanism of abscisic acid signaling by PYL proteins', Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 16, pp. 1230 - 1236
    Journal articles | 2009
    2009, 'Structure of the formate transporter FocA reveals a pentameric aquaporin-like channel', Nature, 462, pp. 467 - 472
    Journal articles | 2007
    2007, 'Allosteric activation of a bacterial stress sensor', Cell, 131, pp. 441 - 443
    Journal articles | 2007
    2007, 'Structure of a site-2 protease family intramembrane metalloprotease', Science, 318, pp. 1608 - 1612
    Journal articles | 2006
    2006, '2:1 Stoichiometry of the CED-4-CED-9 complex and the tetrameric CED-4: insights into the regulation of CED-3 activation', Cell Cycle, 5, pp. 31 - 34
    Journal articles | 2006
    2006, 'RNA aptamers targeting the cell death inhibitor CED-9 induce cell killing in Caenorhabditis elegans', J. Biol. Chem., 281, pp. 9137 - 9144
    Journal articles | 2006
    2006, 'Structural analysis of a rhomboid family intramembrane protease reveals a gating mechanism for substrate entry', Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 13, pp. 1084 - 1091
    Journal articles | 2006
    2006, 'Structure and activation mechanism of the Drosophila initiator caspase Dronc', J. Biol. Chem., 281, pp. 8667 - 8674
    Journal articles | 2005
    2005, 'Mechanisms of apoptosis through structural biology', Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol., 21, pp. 35 - 56
    Journal articles | 2005
    2005, 'Structure of the CED-4-CED-9 complex provides insights into programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans', Nature, 437, pp. 831 - 837
    Journal articles | 2004
    Feng L; Gell DA; Zhou S; Gu L; Kong Y; Li J; Hu M; Yan N; Lee C; Rich AM; Armstrong RS; Lay PA; Gow AJ; Weiss MJ; Mackay JP; Shi Y, 2004, 'Molecular mechanism of AHSP-mediated stabilization of alpha-hemoglobin', Cell, 119, pp. 629 - 640, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2004.11.025
    Journal articles | 2004
    2004, 'Direct binding of DNA by tumor suppressor menin', J. Biol. Chem., 279, pp. 49045 - 49054
    Journal articles | 2004
    2004, 'Molecular mechanisms of DrICE inhibition by DIAP1 and removal of inhibition by Reaper, Hid and Grim', Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 11, pp. 420 - 428
    Journal articles | 2004
    2004, 'Multiple apoptotic caspase cascades are required in nonapoptotic roles for Drosophila spermatid individualization', PLoS Biol., 2, pp. E15 - E15
    Journal articles | 2004
    2004, 'Structural, biochemical, and functional analyses of CED-9 recognition by the proapoptotic proteins EGL-1 and CED-4', Mol. Cell, 15, pp. 999 - 1006
    Journal articles | 2004
    2004, 'Structure of the BRCT repeats of BRCA1 bound to a BACH1 phosphopeptide: implications for signaling', Mol. Cell, 14, pp. 405 - 412
    Journal articles | 2003
    2003, 'Features of a Smad3 MH1-DNA complex. Roles of water and zinc in DNA binding', J. Biol. Chem., 278, pp. 20327 - 20331
    Journal articles | 2003
    2003, 'Histone H1.2 as a trigger for apoptosis', Nat. Struct. Biol., 10, pp. 983 - 985
    Journal articles | 2003
    2003, 'Molecular mechanism of Reaper-Grim-Hid-mediated suppression of DIAP1-dependent Dronc ubiquitination', Nat. Struct. Biol., 10, pp. 892 - 898
    Journal articles |
    'A Glimpse of Membrane Transport through Structures-Advances in the Structural Biology of the GLUT Glucose Transporters', J. Mol. Biol., 429, pp. 2710 - 2725
    Journal articles |
    'Cryo-EM structure of L-fucokinase/GDP-fucose pyrophosphorylase (FKP) in Bacteroides fragilis', Protein Cell, 10, pp. 365 - 369
    Journal articles |
    'Cryo-EM structures of apo and antagonist-bound human Cav3.1', Nature, 576, pp. 492 - 497
    Journal articles |
    'High-yield monolayer graphene grids for near-atomic resolution cryoelectron microscopy', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 117, pp. 1009 - 1014
    Journal articles |
    'Inhibition of tetrameric Patched1 by Sonic Hedgehog through an asymmetric paradigm', Nat Commun, 10, pp. 2320 - 2320
    Journal articles |
    'Modulation of cardiac ryanodine receptor 2 by calmodulin', Nature, 572, pp. 347 - 351
    Journal articles |
    'Molecular Basis for Ligand Modulation of a Mammalian Voltage-Gated Ca2+ Channel', Cell, 177, pp. 1495 - 1506
    Journal articles |
    'Molecular basis for allosteric regulation of the type 2 ryanodine receptor channel gating by key modulators', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 116, pp. 25575 - 25582
    Journal articles |
    'Molecular basis for pore blockade of human Na+ channel Nav1.2 by the μ-conotoxin KIIIA', Science, 363, pp. 1309 - 1313
    Journal articles |
    'Simulating the ion permeation and ion selection for a eukaryotic voltage-gated sodium channel NaVPaS', Protein Cell, 9, pp. 580 - 585
    Journal articles |
    'Structural basis for the gating mechanism of the type 2 ryanodine receptor RyR2', Science, 354
    Journal articles |
    'Structural basis for the recognition of Sonic Hedgehog by human Patched1', Science, 361
    Journal articles |
    'Structure of a eukaryotic voltage-gated sodium channel at near-atomic resolution', Science, 355
    Journal articles |
    'Structure of the human plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase 1 in complex with its obligatory subunit neuroplastin', Nat Commun, 9, pp. 3623 - 3623
    Journal articles |
    'Structure of the human voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.4 in complex with β1', Science, 362
    Journal articles |
    'Structure of the voltage-gated calcium channel Ca(v)1.1 at 3.6 Ã… resolution', Nature, 537, pp. 191 - 196
    Journal articles |
    'Structure-based assessment of disease-related mutations in human voltage-gated sodium channels', Protein Cell, 8, pp. 401 - 438
    Journal articles |
    'The Central domain of RyR1 is the transducer for long-range allosteric gating of channel opening', Cell Res., 26, pp. 995 - 1006