Dr. Yong-Gang Yao, Principal Investigator, Professor of Genetics, Acting Director of Kunming Institute of Zoology. Dr. Yao is working on the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of human diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, leprosy and LHON. He is currently hosting a research project on the biology of Chinese tree shrew and the establishment of its inbreeding line. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed research articles and commentaries on SCI-indexed journals, including Am J Hum Genet, Blood, Mol Psychiatry, Hum Mol Genet, Autophagy and Nat Commun. Many of his papers are highly cited, with a total citation time of 3069 and an h index of 30. Dr. Yao serves as association editor of J Hum Genet, academic editor of PLoS ONE, receiving editor of Infect Genet Evol, editorial board member of J Genet Genomics and editor-in-chief of Zool Res. He has received many awards including the State Natural Science Award of China (second class).

E-mail: yaoyg@mail.kiz.ac.cn        Website: http://www.mitotool.org/lab/index.html

Research Fields and Progress in 2013

Our current research is focused on three major directions: 1) Onset risk factors and pathogenesis of Alzheimer‘s disease, schizophrenia, leprosy, and LHON; 2) Mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases and drug addiction; 3) Biology of Chinese tree shrew and the establishment of its inbreeding line. We are striving for EAF (E = Evolutionary analysis; A = Association study; F = Functional assay), Easy And Fun.

The main research process in 2013: 1) Genetic variants of the FCN2, MBL2 and CFH genes of the lectin and alternative pathways confer genetic susceptibility to leprosy in Han Chinese. Haplotypes / genotypes representing low FCN2 and MBL2 transcriptional activity confer risks to paucibacillary leprosy; 2) mtDNA copy number decreases in the hippocampus and peripheral blood of rats upon chronic morphine treatment, as well as in the peripheral blood of opiate-addicted patients. Morphine causes mitochondrial dysfunction and increases autophagy, leading to mtDNA copy number reduction. Melatonin can restore mitochondrial function and prevent mtDNA copy number loss. Reduction of mtDNA copy number may be a biomarker for opiate addiction.

Research Team：

Laboratory Staff：

Ms. Dan-Dan Yu, Research Associate，yudandan@mail.kiz.ac.cn

Dr. Wen Zhang, Research Associate，zhangwen@mail.kiz.ac.cn

Dr. Dong Wang, Research Associate，wangdong@mail.kiz.ac.cn

Ms. Lu-Xiu Yang, Technician，yangluxiu@mail.kiz.ac.cn

Postdoctoral Fellow：

Hao Guo

Graduate Students：

Liang Ma；Rui Bi；Ling Xu；Deng-Feng Zhang；Yu Fan；Ling-Yan Su；Qiu-Xiang Hu；Hui-Zhen Wang；Li Lv；Xiao Li；Yong Wu；Qun Xiang；Li Peng；Guo-Dong Li；Min Xu