Hongying Yang, PhD
Professor, School of Radiation Medicine and Protection,
Medical College of Soochow University
School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X)
Soochow University
Tel: 86-512-65882637, Fax: 86-512-65888340
Education Background:
PhD in Biophysics, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1999
MEng in Applied Chemistry, Harbin Engineering University, 1996
BS in Applied Chemistry, Chengdu Electric Science and Technology University, 1993
Professional Experience:
2011---: Professor, School of Radiation Medicine and Protection, Soochow University, China
2007-2011 Instructor/Research Scientist, Department of Radiation Oncology
Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, USA
2001-2007 Postdoc Research Fellow, Department of Radiation Oncology
Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, USA
1999-2001 Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular & Cell Biophysics
Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Research Interests:
1. The underlying mechanisms and the consequences of radiation-induced bystander effects;
Radiation-induced bystander effects (RIBEs) refer to the biological changes in unirradiated cells when the neighboring cells are traversed by ionizing radiation. The phenomenon along with other low dose effects such as adaptive response and genomic instability have challenged the traditional target theory and become new dogmas in the field of radiation biology. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying RIBEs are not fully understood, so are the consequence of RIBEs in radiation-induced damage as seen in the scenarios such as radiation therapy and radiation-induced carcinogenesis etc. Dr. Yang's research has been focusing on the underlying mechanisms and the impact on total effects of radiation. More specifically, she has been studying how RIBEs are epigenetically modulated, and what are the late consequence of RIBEs.
2. The biological effects of low-dose ionizing radiation (including space radiation) and the mechanisms;
Due to the existence of low dose effects such as RIBEs and genomic instability etc., the biological effects caused by low dose radiation can not be extrapolated from the data with high dose. Thus it is difficult to assess the health risk of space radiation, which is characterized by a mixed field with low dose and low dose rate radiation. Dr. Yang's interest is to understand the biological effects of low dose of high LET radiation and the mechanisms.
3. The mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment induced by ionizing radiation.
It has been long recognized that cranial irradiation used for the treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumor often causes cognitive impairment, especially in children patients. Dr. Yang's interest is to understand the mechanisms from the point view of DNA damage and repair.
Research Experience and Accomplishments:
After obtained her PhD degree, Dr. Yang worked as an assistant professor at Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences of China. Her research was focusing on the molecular mechanisms of a few novel photosensitizers, e.g. hyporcellin derivatives. Her research results were published in peer-reviewed international journals such as Biochimica et Biophysica Acta，Dyes and Pigments，Cancer Letter etc. Two years later, Dr Yang went to Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School to get her post-doctoral training in 2001. Since then, she has developed her research interests in the field of radiation biology. More specifically, she has been investigating a novel phenomenon called radiation-induced bystander effects. For the first time, she demonstrated that conventional low-LET X-rays could induce medium-mediated bystander effects in AG01522 human normal skin fibroblasts manifest as formation of micronucleus, an increase in p21Waf1 expression, induction of γ-H2AX foci and a decrease in cell survival. Moreover, her results provided the first direct evidence for that the bystander cells were under oxidative stress after co-cultured with irradiated cells. Those results were published in Oncogene. Late her research extended to the biological effects of space radiation which astronauts would encounter in space. By 2011, her research had resulted in publications in International Journal of Radiation Biology, Radiation Research etc. In the summer of 2011, Dr. Yang obtained a faculty position in Soochow University in China, and she started up her own laboratory. She has been keeping her interests in bystander effects, and focusing more on the epigenetical mechanisms and the consequences. She has demonstrated for the first time that miR-21 plays an important mediating role in the induction of bystander effects. Additionally, she is also interested in the mechanisms underlying radiation-induced cognitive impairment. Until now, she has published her research results in British Journal of Medicine, Radiation Oncology etc.
Recent Publications:
1. Zhang L, Li K, Sun R, Zhang Y, Ji J, Huang P, *Yang H, *Tian Y. Minocycline ameliorates cognitive impairment induced by whole-brain irradiation: an animal study. Radiat Oncol. 2014 Dec 12;9(1):281. [Epub ahead of print]
2. *Yang H. The Potential Roles of Radiation-Induced Bystander Effects in Radiation Therapy. J Radn. Oncl. 2014 Volume 1, Issue 1: 004.
3. Jiang Y, Chen X, Tian W, Yin X, Wang J, *Yang H. The role of TGF-β1-miR-21-ROS pathway in bystander responses induced by irradiated non-small-cell lung cancer cells. Br J Cancer. 2014 Aug 12;111(4): 772-80.
4. Chen X., Jiang Y., Yin X., Tian W., Wang J., *Yang H., Exosomes-another mechanism underlying radiation-induced bystander effects. Journal of Radiation Research and Radiation Processing. 2014, 32：030203.
5. Jiang Y., Tian W., Yin X., Wang J., *Yang H., The adaptive response to X-irradiation in H1299 bystander cells is associated with TGF-β 1 pathway. Journal of Radiation Research and Radiation Processing. 2014, 32：030205.
6. Liu J., Shen W., Tang Y., Zhou J., Li M., Zhu W., Yang H., Wu J., Zhang S., Cao J., Proteasome inhibitor MG132 enhances the antigrowth and antimetastasis effects of radiation in human nonsmall cell lung cancer cells. Tumor Biol., 2014 Aug; 35(8): 7531-9.
7. Luo J., Zhu W., Tang Y., Cao H., Zhou Y., Ji R., Zhou X., Lu Z., Yang H., Zhang S., Cao J., Artemisinin derivative artesunate induces radiosensitivity in cervical cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Radiat Oncol.2014 Mar 25;9:84.
8. Yang H., Magpayo, N., Rusek, A., Chiang, I.-H., Sivertz, M., Held KD., Effects of very low fluencs of high energy protons or iron ions on irradiated and bystander cells. Radiat. Res., 2011, 176 (6): 695-705.
9. *Yang H., Magpayo, N., Held KD., Targeted and non-targeted effects from combinations of low doses of energetic protons and iron ions in human fibroblasts, Int. J. Rad. Bio., 2011, 87 (3): 311-319.
10. Yang H., Held KD., Radiation-induced bystander effects in cancer, Reviews in Cancer Biology & Therapeutics, 2007, Chapter 4: 73-88.
11. *Yang H., Anzenberg V., Held KD., The time dependence of bystander responses induced by iron ion irradiation in normal human skin fibroblast, Radiat. Res., 2007, 168: 292-298.
12. Yang H., Anzenberg V. and Held KD., Effects of heavy ions and energetic protons on normal human fibroblasts. Radiation Biology Radioecology. 2007, 47(3): 302-306.
13. Yang H., Asaad N., Held KD. Medium-mediated intercellular communication is involved in bystander cells from x-ray irradiated normal human fibroblast cultures, Oncogene, 2005, 24(12):2096-103.
Note: * Corresponding author
Honors and Awards:
2004 American Radiation Research Society’s Scholars-in-Training Travel Award
1999 President Prize of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
1999 President Prize of Institute of Biophysics, CAS
Contact Information：
199 Renai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park,
Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China 215123
Phone: 86-512-65882637
Email: yanghongying@suda.edu.cn