Jean Yin Jen Wang

Jean Y. J. Wang received her Ph.D. from UC, Berkeley, was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MIT, and is currently a Distinguished Professor of Medicine & Biology at UC, San Diego. Her current research seeks to understand how a normal cell makes the decision to commit suicide when it is damaged or stressed and how caner cells escape stress-activated death wish. A leader in understanding the ABL gene function and contributor to cancer research. Discovered an essential role for nuclear ABL in DNA damage-induced apoptosis. Showed that nuclear entrapment of the leukemic oncoprotein BCR-ABL causes cell death and that nuclear exclusion is essential for BCR-ABL to transform cells. Discovered the regulation of ABL nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling by cell-matrix adhesion, and the regulation of ABL kinase by cytoplasmic ABL-actin and nuclear ABL-RB interactions. Found that nuclear ABL is activated by DNA damage to regulate transcription and RNA processing. Earlier work discovered a switch between the Krebs and Glyoxal cycles, the interphase-specific tyrosine phosphorylation of Cdc2 kinase as a mitosis inhibitory mechanism, and the differential regulation of the multiple-protein binding pockets in the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein. She has served on numerous national and international advisory boards, including the Board of Scientific Counselors and the Board of Scientific Advisors at the National Cancer Institute and the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research. Some of her honors include the Searle Scholar Award, the Earl Warrne College Outstanding Teacher Award and the herbert Stern Endowed Chair.