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Yudong Wang, PhD

  • Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Yudong Wang, PhD is an accomplished research assistant professor with extensive knowledge and experience in mitochondrial respiratory chain and fatty acid oxidation (FAO). His primary research focus is on the structural and functional connections between fatty acid oxidation enzymes and the electron transport chain complex, a hypothesis he originally established and first published in 2010 in the Journal of Biochemistry, with a follow-up publication in the same scientific journal in 2019. These results, thus far, have shown the existence of their structural and functional linkages, which contribute significantly to the mitochondria’s ability to produce ATP, the energy currency of cells. Wang's work in this area has also led to significant experience with the structural and functional assays necessary to describe the multifunctional FAO complex and its interactions with respiratory chain supercomplexes.

In addition to his list of publications, Wang has also contributed to the teaching and mentoring of those that have come and passed through the lab, including medical fellows and international scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates, as well as numerous technicians and research scientists. He has also partaken in many projects from other labs who are collaborators of Jerry Vockley, MD, PhD, FACMG. Besides contributing to basic research in mitochondrial energy metabolism, Wang is also focusing on the clinical ramifications of his research, in the hopes that it can contribute to the development of energy metabolism disorders’ diagnoses and treatments.

 

Education & Training

  • BS, Agronomy, China Agricultural University, 1969
  • MS, Plant Biochemistry and Biophysics, China Agricultural University, 1981
  • PhD, Plant Biochemistry and Biophysics, China Agricultural University, 1987
  • Postdoctoral Research, Biochemistry, West Virginia University School of Medicine, 1989-1994

Selected Publications

Chaly Y, Fu Y, Marinov A, Hostager B, Yan W, Campfield B, Kellum JA, Bushnell D, Wang Y, Vockley J, Hirsch R. (2014). Follistatin-like protein 1 enhances NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated IL-1beta secretion from monocytes and macrophages. Eur J Immunol. 2014 May;44(5):1467-79. PMID: 24470197.

Schiff M, Haberberger B, Xia C, Mohsen AW, Goetzman ES, Wang Y, Uppala R, Zhang Y, Karunanidhi A, Prabhu D, Alharbi H, Prochownik EV, Haack T, Haberle J, Munnich A, Rotig A, Taylor RW, Nicholls RD, Kim JJ, Prokisch H, Vockley J. (2015). Complex I assembly function and fatty acid oxidation enzyme activity of ACAD9 both contribute to disease severity in ACAD9 deficiency. Hum Mol Genet. 2015 Jun 1;24(11):3238-47. PMID: 25721401.

Casinelli G, LaRosa J, Sharma M, Cherok E, Banerjee S, Branca M, Edmunds L, Wang Y, Sims-Lucas S, Churley L, Kelly S, Sun M, Stolz D, Graves JA. N-Myc overexpression increases cisplatin resistance in neuroblastoma via deregulation of mitochondrial dynamics. Cell Death Discov. 2016 Dec 12;2:16082. PMID: 28028439.

Bloom K, Mohsen AW, Karunanidhi A, El Demellawy D, Reyes-Múgica M, Wang Y, Ghaloul-Gonzalez L, Otsubo C, Tobita K, Muzumdar R, Gong Z, Tas E, Basu S, Chen J, Bennett M, Hoppel C, Vockley J. Investigating the link of ACAD10 deficiency to type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2018 Jan;41(1):49-57. PMID: 28120165.

Seminotti B, Leipnitz G, Karunanidhi A, Kochersperger C, Roginskaya VY, Basu S, Wang Y, Wipf P, Van Houten B, Mohsen AW, Vockley J. Mitochondrial energetics is impaired in very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency and can be rescued by treatment with mitochondria-targeted electron scavengers. Hum Mol Genet. 2019 Mar 15;28(6):928-941. PMID: 30445591.

Wang Y, Palmfeldt J, Gregersen N, Makhov AM, Conway JF, Wang M, McCalley SP, Basu S, Alharbi H, St Croix C, Calderon MJ, Watkins S, Vockley J. Mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and the electron transport chain comprise a multifunctional mitochondrial protein complex. J Biol Chem. 2019 Aug 16;294(33):12380-12391. PMID: 31235473.

Xiao C, Astiazaran-Symonds E, Basu S, Kisling M, Scaglia F, Chapman KA, Wang Y, Vockley J, Ferreira CR. Mitochondrial energetic impairment in a patient with late-onset glutaric acidemia Type 2. Am J Med Genet A. 2020 Oct;182(10):2426-2431. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.61786. Epub 2020 Aug 17. PMID: 32804429.

Bloom K, Karunanidhi A, Tobita K, Hoppel C, Thiels E, Peet E, Wang Y, Basu S, Vockley J. ACAD10 protein expression and Neurobehavioral assessment of Acad10-deficient mice. PLoS One. 2020 Dec 10;15(12):e0242445. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242445. PMID: 33301490; PMCID: PMC7728233.

Dobrowolski SF, Phua YL, Sudano C, Spridik K, Zinn PO, Wang Y, Bharathi S, Vockley J, Goetzman E. Phenylalanine hydroxylase deficient phenylketonuria comparative metabolomics identifies energy pathway disruption and oxidative stress. Mol Genet Metab. 2021 Apr 7:S1096-7192(21)00686-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2021.04.002. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33846068.

Dobrowolski SF, Phua YL, Sudano C, Spridik K, Zinn PO, Wang Y, Bharathi S, Vockley J, Goetzman E. Comparative metabolomics in the Pahenu2 classical PKU mouse identifies cerebral energy pathway disruption and oxidative stress. Mol Genet Metab. 2022 May;136(1):38-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2022.03.004. Epub 2022 Mar 18. PMID: 35367142.

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Academic and Research Interests

  • Fatty Acid Oxidation
  • Mitochondrial disorders
  • Fatty Acid oxidation disorders
  • Mitochondria
  • Mitochondrial metabolism
  • Electron Transfer chain
  • Respiratory chain
  • Multifunctional FAO Complex

CV

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