Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica

Research

Research in the Wang laboratory centers around interface of genetics, chemistry, biology, medicine and biotechnology investigations that explore the protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) and their networks. We are studying bacterial and eukaryotic systems in a multidisciplinary approach that includes expanding genetics codes, protein chemistry, enzymology and structural analysis. With knowledge of PTM studies, we are also seeking the applications in discovering new concepts of protein drug design.

My research currently focus on three subjects in coherence mode:

1. Synthesizing protein with PTMs, e.g., protein ubiquitin-like modifications, methylation and phosphorylation;
2. Biocatalysis: developing novel enzyme for in vivo protein modifications through click-type bioothogonal reactions;
3. Expanding genetic code studies: developing evolved protein translation system for incorporating multiple and different non-canonical amino acids into proteins in vivo.

Degrees and Positions Held

• 2007 – 2012   Ph. D., Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, USA
• 1999 – 2001   M.S., Department of Chemistry, National Cheng-Kung University
• 1995 – 1999   B. S., Department of Chemistry, National Cheng-Kung University

• 2015 – present   Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica
• 2012 – 2015   Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Medical School, Yale University, USA
• 2003 – 2007   Research Assistant, Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica

Selected Publications

Ferritin Conjugates With Multiple Clickable Amino Acids Encoded by C-Terminal Engineered Pyrrolysyl-tRNA Synthetase. 
Wang YH, Jian ML, Chen PJ, Tsou JC, Truong LP, Wang YS* 
Frontiers in chemistry (2021)

Revealing USP7 Deubiquitinase Substrate Specificity by Unbiased Syn-thesis of Ubiquitin Tagged SUMO2. 
Jiang HK, Kurkute P, Li CL, Wang YH, Chen PJ, Lin SY, Wang YS* 
Biochemistry (2020)

Probing the Active Site of Deubiquitinase USP30 with Noncanonical Tryptophan Analogues. 
Jiang HK, Wang YH, Weng JH, Kurkute P, Li CL, Lee MN, Chen PJ, Tseng HW, Tsai MD, Wang YS* 
Biochemistry (2020)

Linker and N-terminal domain engineering of pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase for substrate range shifting and activity enhancement. 
Jiang HK, Lee MN, Tsou JC, Chang KW, Tseng HW, Chen KP, Li YK, Wang YS* 
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. (2020)

Crystal structures reveal an elusive functional domain of pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase. 
Suzuki T, Miller C, Guo LT, Ho JML, Bryson DI, Wang YS, Liu DR, Söll D 
Nat. Chem. Bioli. (2017)

Evolution of translation machinery in recoded bacteria enables multi-site incorporation of nonstandard amino acids. 
Amiram M, Haimovich AD, Fan C, Wang YS, Aerni HR, Ntai I, Moonan DW, Ma NJ, Rovner AJ, Hong SH, Kelleher NL, Goodman AL, Jewett MC, Söll D, Rinehart J, Isaacs FJ 
Nat. Biotechnol. (2015)

Probing the active site tryptophan of Staphylococcus aureus thioredoxin with an analog. 
Englert M, Nakamura A, Wang YS, Eiler D, Söll D, Guo LT 
Nucl. Acids Res. (2015)

Polyspecific pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetases from directed evolution. 
Guo LT, Wang YS, Nakamura A, Eiler D, Kavran JM, Wong M, Kiessling LL, Steitz TA, O'Donoghue P, Söll D 
Proc. Nalt. Acad. Sci. USA (2014)

Upgrading protein synthesis for synthetic biology. 
O'Donoghue P, Ling J, Wang YS, Söll D 
Nat. Chem. Biol. (2013)

A rationally designed pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase mutant with a broad substrate spectrum. 
Wang YS, Fang X, Wallace AL, Wu B, Liu WR 
J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2012)

Publication List