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J-Y Wang, MD, PhD

Joseph and Corinne Schwartz Professor of Surgery

Academic Title:

Professor

Primary Appointment:

Surgery

Secondary Appointment(s):

Pathology

Administrative Title:

Vice Chair

Location:

Room S243, HSF-II, 20 Penn St, (or) VAMC, 5C-122, 10 N. Greene St, Baltimore, MD 21201

Phone (Primary):

(410) 605-7000 ×5678

Phone (Secondary):

(410) 706-1049

Fax:

(410) 706-1051

Education and Training

  • Sun Yat-Sen University School of Medicine, China, MD
  • Peking (Beijing) University School of Medicine, Beijing, PhD
  • Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, Japan, Postdoctoral Training
  • University of Texas School of Medicine at Houston, Postdoctoral Training

Biosketch

Dr. Wang joined the faculty of University of Maryland School of Medicine as Assistant Professor in 1994. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1998 and has been Professor from 2002. Dr. Wang has been appointed as Associate Chair for Basic Research, Department of Surgery from 2005.

Dr. Wang has been awarded as the Joseph and Corinne Schwartz Endowed-Professorship from 2012. Dr. Wang is also an investigator of Biomedical Laboratory Research & Development Service, US Department of Veterans Affairs, and he has been selected as an honor position of Senior Research Career Scientist from 2011.

Dr. Wang has had many seminal research accomplishments throughout his career and published more than 180 peer-reviewed original research articles. His research program has been continuously funded by multiple NIH grants, VA MERIT-Review awards, and VA Career Scientist Award over twenty-eight years. Dr. Wang’s service to the scientific community is exceptional, as he serves as a member of multiple NIH study sections and VA MERIT-Review study sections, and he is also on the editorial board for several scientific journals.

Research/Clinical Keywords

Gut Mucosal Regeneration; Gut Barrier Function; Mucosal Injury and Repair; RNA-Binding Proteins; Noncoding RNAs; Polyamines

Highlighted Publications

Zhuang R, Rao JN, Zou T, Liu L, Xiao L, Cao S, Hansraj NZ, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. miR-195 competes with HuR to modulate stim1 mRNA stability and regulate cell migration.  Nucleic Acids Res 41: 7905-7919, 2013.

Liu L, Christodoulou-Vafeiadou E, Rao JN, Zou T, Xiao L, Chung HK, Yang H, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. RNA-binding protein HuR promotes growth of small intestinal mucosa by activating the Wnt signaling pathway.  Mol Biol Cell 25: 3308-3318, 2014.

Zou T, Jaladanki SK, Liu L, Xiao L, Chung HK, Wang J, Xu Y, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. H19 long noncoding RNA regulates intestinal epithelial barrier function via microRNA 675 by interacting with RNA-binding protein HuR.  Mol Cell Biol 36: 1332-1341, 2016.

Liu L, Zhuang R, Xiao L, Chung HK, Luo J, Turner DJ, Rao JN, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. HuR enhances early restitution of the intestinal epithelium by increasing Cdc42 translation.  Mol Cell Biol 37: e00574-16, 2017.

Xiao L, Wu J, Wang JY Chung HK, Kalakonda S, Rao JN, Gorospe M, Wang JY. Long noncoding RNA 173 promotes renewal of the intestinal mucosa by inducing degradation of microRNA 195.  Gastroenterology 154: 599-611, 2018.

Xiao L, Li XX, Chung HK, Kalakonda S, Cai JZ, Cao S, Chen N, Liu Y, Rao JN, Wang HY, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. RNA-binding protein HuR regulates Paneth cell function by altering membrane localization of TLR2 via posttranscriptional control of CNPY3. Gastroenterology 157: 731-743, 2019.

Yu TX, Chung HK, Xiao L, Lan SY, Piao JJ, Turner DJ, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. Long noncoding RNA H19 impairs the intestinal barrier by suppressing autophagy and lowering Paneth and Goblet cell function.  Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 9: 611-625, 2020.

Xiao L, Ma XX, Chung HK, Kwon MS, Yu TX, Rao JN, Raufman JP, Kozar R, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. Circular RNA circHIPK3 promotes homeostasis of the intestinal epithelium by reducing miR-29b function. Gastroenterology 161: 1303-1317, 2021.

Yu TX, Kalakonda S, Liu X, Han N, Chung HK, Xiao L, Rao JN, He TC, Raufman JP, and Wang JY. Long noncoding RNA 230/CUG-binding protein 1 axis sustains intestinal epithelial homeostasis and response to tissue injury. JCI Insight 7: e156612, 2022. 

Ma XX, Xiao L, Wen SJ, Yu TX, Sharma S, Chung HK, Warner B, Mallard CG, Rao JN, Gorospe M, and Wang JY. Small noncoding vault RNA2-1 disrupts gut epithelial barrier function via interaction with HuR.  EMBO Reports 24: e54925, 2023. 

Additional Publication Citations

Research Interests

Dr. Wang's research is to define the roles and mechanisms of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and noncoding (nc) RNAs in gut mucosal regeneration, protection, and diseases.  His laboratory is particularly interested in the regulation of mRNA turnover and translation during mucosal growth, injury/repair, and epithelial barrier dysfunction.  Dr. Wang’s research program studies stress-related processes regulated by RBPs and ncRNAs, the post-translational events that affect target gene expression in the presence or absence of cellular polyamines, and the interplay between RBPs and ncRNAs in the gut epithelium homeostasis.

Dr. Wang’s group employs approaches that examine specific mRNAs as well as approaches focused on large-scale RNA analyses (microarray, scRNA-seq, RIP and ribosome profiling). His group has also used gain-of-function transgenic and tissue-specific knockout approaches to generate various genetically modified animal models.

The comprehensive approach and experience have provided him with an appreciation for the need to study mucosal tissue and cells directly, and to move back and forth from human disease to model systems and to validate key findings in the human context.  Importantly, Dr. Wang's research projects are directly relevant to surgical patients with massive mucosal injury/delayed healing, maladaptation, barrier dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and sepsis.

Grants and Contracts

  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • National Institutes of Health