Laboratory
JSEI
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Office
JSEI
Los Angeles, CA 90095
The retina is a neural network responsible for receiving visual information and transmitting it to the brain. We are interested in studying the genetic codes that control the retinal network formation. We are also investigating mechanisms that cause permanent loss of retinal cells leading to blinding diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa and dominant optic atrophy. Understanding of how these diseases occur will help the development of therapies.
We use several models, including human retinal organoids, to mimic neural retinal development and disease processes. An array of molecular genetic approaches is applied to investigate growth factor signaling, gene transcription regulation, and cellular metabolism on retinal differentiation and neuronal survival. The research aims at understanding neural progenitor cell fate specification, enhancing neuronal differentiation and viability.
Xian-Jie Yang is a developmental biologist, who has served on the UCLA School of Medicine faculty since she joined the Department of Ophthalmology in 1996. She is a member of the Molecular Biology Institute, Brain Research Institute, and has become an associate professor in 2003. Dr, Yang obtained her B.S in biology from Beijing Normal University and her Ph.D. from Cornell University in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology after studying transcription regulation. She pursued her postdoctoral training at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School working on vertebrate neural development. Her research centers on development and diseases of the vertebrate retina, in particular growth factor signaling mechanisms during normal neural differentiation and neuronal survival in retinal degeneration. Her laboratory is also developing cellular and molecular therapies for inherited retinal diseases.
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