Yang Yang
Laboratory

Structural Basis for Neurodegenerative Diseases

The lab of Dr. Yang Yang employs cryo-EM to investigate neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

To this end, the lab seeks to answer the following questions:

• What are the pathological processes of amyloid assembly and spreading mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases?
• How do amyloid aggregates form and disassemble, and what crucial factors contribute to a thorough understanding of disease progression?
• How can we enhance our understanding and efficacy of amyloid-based therapies for neurodegenerative disorders?

Selected Publications

For comprehensive lists of Dr. Yang’s publications, please visit her Google Scholar.

Yang Y^#, Murzin AG, Chew SP, Granco C, Newell KL, Ghetti B, Goedert M^#, Scheres SHW^#. 2023. Cryo-EM structures of Aβ40 filaments from the leptomeninges of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Acta Neuropathol Commun 11:191.
^#Co-corresponding authorship

Stern AM, Yang Y, Meunier AL, Liu W, Cai YQ, Ericsson M, Liu L, Goedert M, Scheres SHW, Selkoe DJ. 2023. Abundant Aβ fibrils in ultracentrifugal supernatants of aqueous extracts from Alzheimer’s disease brains. Neuron 111(13):2012–2020e4.

Yang Y*, Kang HJ*, Gao RG*, Wang JJ, Han GW, FiBerto JF, Wu LJ, Tong JH, Qu L, Wu YR, Pileski R, Li XM, Zhang XC, Zhao SW, Kenakin T, Wang Q, Stevens RC, Peng W, Roth BL, Rao ZH, Liu ZJ. 2023. Structural insights into the human niacin receptor HCA2-G_i signalling complex. Nat Comm 14(1692).
*Co-first authorship

Yang Y, Zhang W, Murzin AG, Schweighauser M, Huang M, Lövestam S, Peak-Chew SY, Saito T, Saido TC, Macdonald J, Lavenir I, Ghetti B, Graff C, Kumar A, Nordberg A, Goedert M, Scheres SHW. 2023. Cryo-EM structures of amyloid-β filaments with the Arctic mutation (E22G) from human and mouse brains. Acta Neuropathol 145:325–333.

Yang Y*, Garringer HJ*, Shi Y*, Lövestam S, Zhang X, Kotecha A, Bacioglu M, Koto A, Takao M, Spillantini MG, Ghetti B, Vidal R, Murzin AG, Scheres SHW, Goedert M. 2022. New SNCA mutation and structures of α-synuclein filaments from juvenile-onset synucleinopathy. Acta Neuropathol 145:561–572.
*Co-first authorship

Yang Y, Shi Y, Schweighauser M, Zhang XJ, Kotecha A, Murzin AG, Garringer HJ, Cullinane P, Saito Y, Foroud T, Warner TT, Hasegawa K, Vidal R, Murayama S, Revesz T, Ghetti B, Hasegawa M, Lashley T, Scheres HWS, Goedert M. 2022. Structures of α-synuclein filaments from human brains with Lewy pathology. Nature 610:791–795.

Yang Y*, Arseni D*, Zhang W*, Huang M, Lövestam S, Schweighauser M, Kotecha A, Murzin AG, Peak-Chew SY, Macdonald J, Lavenir I, Garringer HJ, Gelpi E, Newell KL, Kovacs GG, Vidal R, Ghetti B, Falcon B, Scheres HW, Goedert M. 2022. Cryo-EM structures of amyloid-β 42 filaments from human brains. Science 375(6577):167–172.
*Co-first authorship

Schweighauser M*, Arseni D*, Bacioglu M*, Huang M*, Lovestam S*, Shi Y*, Yang Y*, Zhang W, Kotecha A, Garringer HJ, Vidal R, Hallinan GI, Newell KL, Tarutani A, Murayama S, Miyazaki M, Saito Y, Yoshida M, Hasegawa K, Lashley T, Revesz T, Kovacs GG, van Swieten J, Takao M, Hasegawa M, Ghetti B, Spillantini MG, Ryskeldi-Falcon B, Murzin AG, Goedert M, Scheres SHW. 2022. Age-dependent formation of TMEM106B amyloid filaments in human brains. Nature 605(7909):310–314.
*Co-first authorship

Shi Y*, Zhang W*, Yang Y, Murzin AG, Falcon B, Kotecha A, van Beers M, Tarutani A, Kametani F, Garringer HJ, Vidal R, Hallinan GI, Lashley T, Saito Y, Murayama S, Yoshida M, Tanaka H, Kakita A, Ikeuchi T, Robinson AC, Mann DMA, Kovacs GG, Revesz T, Ghetti B, Hasegawa M, Goedert M, Scheres SHW. 2021. Structure-based classification of tauopathies. Nature 598(7880), 359–363.