Damon Runyon Researchers

Protein oxidation occurs when an amino acid gains an oxygen atom in a post-translational modification. Oxidation of the amino acid methionine plays an important role in cellular regulation, and mutations at methionine sites are known to have pathogenic effects in cancer. However, direct assessment of methionine’s oxidation product, methionine sulfoxide, remains underexplored. Dr. Yang aims to develop methionine sulfoxide labeling approaches using light or electricity. With the help of these chemical tools, he will profile and identify methionine sulfoxide sites in pancreatic tumors and study their role in metastasis. Dr. Yang received his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his BS from Nankai University, Tianjin.