Research Area: Structure biology and biophysics

Wei Yang received her B.A. degree in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1985 and earned her M.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Columbia University in 1986, followed by a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Columbia University in 1991. She then conducted postdoctoral training first at Columbia University and subsequently at Yale University, where she further honed her expertise in structural biology and enzymology. Upon completing her postdoctoral work, she joined the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1995, where she has served as a NIH Distinguished Investigator and Section Chief since achieving scientific tenure in 2000. Professor Yang’s research is dedicated to uncovering the molecular mechanisms that govern DNA recombination, repair, and replication, fundamental biological processes that preserve genomic integrity and support life. Her laboratory investigates diverse pathways, including V(D)J recombination, mismatch repair, nucleotide excision repair, and translesion DNA synthesis, employing a combination of X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, molecular biology, and biochemical/biophysical techniques to elucidate how key protein–nucleic acid complexes function at atomic resolution. Over the course of her career, Professor Yang has published extensively in leading scientific journals and made seminal contributions to structural and molecular biology, particularly in characterizing the enzymatic mechanisms of DNA maintenance pathways. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious honors, including election to the National Academy of Sciences (2013) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015), as well as the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award from the Protein Society (2011). Professor Yang’s work continues to influence the fields of structural biology, biochemistry, and genome maintenance, and she remains a leader in multidisciplinary research aimed at understanding fundamental life-science problems.