Dr. Yang Yang leverages leading-edge imaging technologies to illuminate new insights into neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Her research has revealed the structures of critical disease-related protein filaments — an important step toward developing improved treatments.

Dr. Yang earned a B.S. in bioscience from Beijing Forestry University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (adviser: Dr. Zihe Rao). She then continued her work in the Rao Lab as a research associate, where she spearheaded structural studies into the human niacin receptor HCA2-Gi signaling complex.

In 2020, she joined the labs of Dr. Sjors Scheres and Dr. Michel Goedert at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology as a postdoctoral fellow. While there, she led several cryo-EM projects to visualize protein filaments associated with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy. Her findings revealed key differences among filament types, shedding light on disease presentation and identifying potential targets for treatment.

Dr. Yang joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Structural Biology in 2024, where she employs cryo-EM and other advanced techniques to gain mechanistic insight into neurodegenerative diseases.