Li Yang is an American biologist researching how inflammation in the premetastatic environment modifies

cancer cell Cancer cells are cells that divide continually, forming solid tumors or flooding the blood or lymph with abnormal cells. Cell division is a normal process used by the body for growth and repair. A parent cell divides to form two daughter cells, an ...

colonization. She is a senior investigator and head of the

tumor microenvironment The tumor microenvironment is a complex ecosystem surrounding a tumor, composed of cancer cells, stromal tissue (including blood vessels, immune cells, fibroblasts and signaling molecules) and the extracellular matrix. Mutual interaction between ...

section at the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

Education

Yang received a Ph.D. in the Department of Cancer Biology at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, under the mentorship of . Her dissertation research focused on

COX-2 Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), also known as prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 ( HUGO PTGS2), is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''PTGS2'' gene. In humans it is one of three cyclooxygenases. It is involved in the conversion of arachid ...

pathway in

tumor progression Tumor progression is the third and last phase in tumor development. This phase is characterised by increased growth speed and invasiveness of the tumor cells. As a result of the progression, phenotypical changes occur and the tumor becomes more agg ...

immunosuppression Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse react ...

, and the contribution of host

myeloid cells A myelocyte is a young cell of the granulocytic series, occurring normally in bone marrow (can be found in circulating blood when caused by certain diseases). Structure When stained with the usual dyes, the cytoplasm is distinctly basophilic ...

to tumor

blood vessel Blood vessels are the tubular structures of a circulatory system that transport blood throughout many Animal, animals’ bodies. Blood vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to most of the Tissue (biology), tissues of a Body (bi ...

formation. She investigated

TGF-β Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a multifunctional cytokine belonging to the transforming growth factor superfamily that includes three different mammalian isoforms (TGF-β 1 to 3, HGNC symbols TGFB1, TGFB2, TGFB3) and many other ...

regulation of inflammation and

as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

research with Harold L. Moses.

Career and research

Yang joined the

(NCI) in 2009 and was

tenured Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...

in 2016. She a senior investigator with a research program devoted to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor-stroma interaction during

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

process. Her studies demonstrate that cancer-associated inflammation is critical in the functional switch of TGF-β from a suppressor to a promoter. Her team is currently investigating how myeloid-specific TGF-β signaling modulates host inflammation/immune response in cancer and other pathological conditions. As head of the tumor microenvironment Section, Yang is interested in how inflammation in the premetastatic environment modifies

colonization. Her research approaches include cellular and molecular biology, cancer biology, immunology, as well as integrated genomic-wide genetic and

epigenetic In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

approaches.

Awards and honors

Yang is a recipient of the Federal Technology Transfer Award, co-recipient of FLEX Program Awards for Principal Investigators, CCR, NCI, as well as U.S.-China Biomedical Collaborative Research Grant award.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Li Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Vanderbilt University alumni National Institutes of Health people American people of Chinese descent American women biologists American cancer researchers American women medical researchers 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American biologists