Yanfen Liu
Assistant Professor
School of Life Science and Technology
Shanghai Tech University
China
Biography
Dr. Yanfen Liu received a B.A. degree in Biology in 2002 from Zhejiang University, and obtained her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2008 from Peking Union Medical College/NIBS. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow between 2009 and 2014 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/NIDDK in the United States. Dr. Liu joined School of Life Sciences and Technology at ShanghaiTech University as an assistant professor, PI since 2015.
Research Interest
We are interested in understanding how eukaryotic cells deal with protein misfolding. Removal of unwanted proteins by Ubiquitin-Proteasome System (UPS) is an integral component of the cellular quality control program that offers an essential protective mechanism to maintain protein homeostasis. Impairment in protein quality control results in protein aggregates associated with various diseases from neurodegenerative disorders to cancers. In short term, we want to study how the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy is regulated to maintain protein and organelle homeostasis with an emphasis on ubiquitin ligases (E3s) and deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs). In long term, we wish to elucidate the functional interplays between UPS and other degradation pathways such as autophagy in human development and diseases.
Publications
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Yanfen Liu, Nia Soetandyo, Jin-gu Lee, Liping Liu, Yue Xu, William M Clemons and Yihong Ye (2014). USP13 antagonizes gp78 to maintain functionality of a chaperone in ER-associated degradation. eLIFE, 3:e01369. doi: 10.7554/eLife.01369. (Commented in Nature Cell Biology)
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. Ting Zhang, Yue Xu, Yanfen Liu, and Yihong Ye (2015). gp78 functions downstream of Hrd1 to promote degradation of misfolded proteins of the endoplasmic reticulum. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 26(24): 4438–4450.
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Yupeng Zhao, Ting Zhang, Huanhuan Huo, Yihong Ye, and Yanfen Liu (2016). Lunapark Is a Component of a Ubiquitin Ligase Complex Localized to the Endoplasmic Reticulum Three-way Junctions. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291(35): 18252-62.
