Author: Weiwei Dang

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, and the Huffington Center on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine. After obtaining my Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology, Microbiology, and Biochemistry from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 2006, I pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. Shelley Berger at the Wistar Institute and University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. In 2013, I joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine.

My research focuses on the roles of epigenetics and chromatin dynamics in aging regulation. My earlier work was among the first to demonstrate that changes in epigenetic markings can causatively alter lifespan in the budding yeast. Later, our work lead to the discovery age-associated cryptic transcription and showed that suppressing it through epigenetic mechanisms can promote longevity. We have now extended these findings in worms and mammalian stem cells. Better stress response has been associated longevity in many experimental models. In another study, we revealed that a highly conserved chromatin remodeling enzyme regulates aging through stress response pathways in yeast and that this mechanism is also likely conserved in other eukaryotes. More recently, our team discovered a novel form of stress response called Chromatin Architectural Defect (CAD) response that become activated when nucleosomes are lost from the chromatin, a phenomenon found in aged cells and tissues. Strikingly, moderately activating CAD response promotes longevity in yeast and the nematode C. elegans. These studies not only discovered novel molecular mechanisms regulating the aging process, but also provide new possibilities for intervention through epigenetic pathways.

You can find the complete list of my publications here
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/weiwei.dang.1/bibliography/44330327/public/