At the Yu lab in the department of biological sciences at St. John's university, we study structure and function of cell membrane ion channels
and receptors, and their roles in physiology and diseases.
Latest news in the lab
(please go to "News" page for more details)
3/14/2024, Our manuscript on polcystin-2 channel regulation by small-molecule ligands, a work collaborated with Dr. Yigong Shi's lab was published by PNAS. Congratulations to Jeffery, Mengying, and all authors! Thank you, Dr. Yigong Shi, for this fantasic collaboration!
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2316230121
11/15/2023, Our collaoborted work with Dr. Nieng Yan and others on Cav1.2 channelwas published at Cell again! Congratulations to all authors!
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)01106-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867423011066%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
5/19/2023, Ph.D. studnet Yan Wang graduated from the lab will start her postdoc research at Columbia University soon. Big Congrats, Dr. Wang!
5/4/2023, Our new paper "The diverse effects of pathogenic point mutations on ion channel activity of a gain-of-function polycystin-2" has been published in JBC. Congratulations to all authors!
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104674
2/18/2023 - 2/23/2023, Yong, Jeffery, and Yan attended the Biophysics Society 67th annual meeting in San Diego, CA.
11/30/2022: Our paper with Dr. Nieng Yan's lab at Princeton University titled" sStructure of R-type human Cav2.3 channel reveal conformational crosstalk of the intracellular segments" was just published in Nature Communications. Yan Wang and Zhifei (Jeffer) Wang from Yu lab were co-authors of this paper. Congratulations to all authors!
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35026-6
11/22/2022: Our paper with Dr. Nieng Yan's lab at Princeton University titled" structural basis for the severe adverse interaction of sofobuvir and amiodarone on L-type Cav Channels" was just published in Cell. Yan Wang and Zhifei (Jeffer) Wang from Yu lab were co-authors of this paper. Congratulations to all authors!
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01370-8
10/20/2022: Our paper about the molecular mechanism of proton sensing and conducting in channel Otop1 was published in Communications Biology. Congrats to Bin, Yan, and all other authors.
To view and paper and download a PDF:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-04085-2
4/7/2022: MS student Gabriella Ulloa successfully defended her thesis. Congrats, Gabriella!
4/4/2022: Zhifei Wang, Yan Wang, and Tiago Morais presented at the SJU Student Reserch Conference.
8/11/2021: Together with Dr. Yigong Shi's lab at the Westerlake University, we reported in Nature Communicaitons the cryo-EM structures of the core of the PKD1L3/PKD2L1 complex.
PDF of the article: https://rdcu.be/ctQtq
4/2021: Yong was awarded the "Grant Recognition Award" by St. John's University.
4/2021: Yong gave a seminar to the the department of Biological Sciences, Toledo University.
12/2020: Yong gave a seminar at the Mayo Clinic Biochemistry Molecular Biology (BMB) Seminar Series.
10/2020: Yong gave a seminar at the Polycystic Kidney Disease Meetup, organized by PKD Foundation New York Chapter.
8/21/2020: Ph.D. student Zhifei (Jeffery) Wang successfully defended his Ph.D. via a Zoom meeting. This is the first online Ph.D. defese in the history of the department. Big congrats, Jeffery!
07/2020: Dr. Yu received a new NIH R01 grant to support the lab's research on polycystins and ADPKD. This multiple PI grant will be conducted in both the Yu lab and Dr. Feng Qian's lab at the University of Maryland.
The new grant was reported on SJU's website and SJU's student newspaper The Torch:
05/2020: Dr. Yu received an Investigator-Initiated Research Award from the Department of Defense (DOD).
11/07-10/2019: Dr. Yu and Ph.D. student Zhifei (Jeffery) Wang attended the ASN 2019 Annual Meeting in Washington DC. Jeffery gave oral presentation.
9/26/2019: Our paper on EMBO Reports was highlighted by Dr. Michael Caplan's commentary in EMBO reports with the title "Holding open the door reveals a new view of polycystin channel function."
https://www.embopress.org/doi/10.15252/embr.201949156
9/23/2019: Dr. Yu was invited to give a talk at the PKD symposium at Baltimore PKD Center, University of Maryland Medical Center.
08/01/2019: Jeffery (Zhifei)'s manuscript was accepted for publication at EMBO Reports. Congrats, Jeffery and all authors!
4/19/2019: Dr. Yu was invited to give seminar at the Texas Southern University in Houston.
03/2019: Parul's manuscript was accepted for publication at Biochem Biophys Res Commun. Congrats, Parul!
11/15/2018: Dr. Yu was invited to give seminar at University of Kansas Medical Center
09/2018: Yong gave a talk at the 2nd international forum of polycystic and rear kidney disease in Hefei, China.
07/26/2018: Ph.D. student Parul Kashyap successfully defended her thesis. Congrats, Dr. kashyap!
06/2018: Yong gave a talk at the PKD Foundation Connect Basic Research Meeting.
05/2018: Yong visited and gave a talk at the National "111" Center for Cellular Regulation and Molecular Pharmaceutics at Hubei University of Technology.
04/2018: BS/MS student Courtney Ng successfully defended her thesis. Congrats, Courtney!
04/2018: Graduate student Zhifei Wang and undergraduate students Hannah Martin and Enessa Kalontar presented their research at the annual SJU Student Research Day.
Department of Biological Sciences l St. John's University
8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, New York 11439