Lucia Yang
Education:
B.S. University of California, Los Angeles (2019)
Ph.D. Stony Brook University (2025)
Current Position:
7th Year MSTP
3rd Year Medical Student
Advisor:
Adrian Krainer
Graduate Program:
Genetics
Research Interest:
My interests broadly include combining molecular biology and genetics to study disease. During my undergraduate years, I studied the molecular pathology of Huntington’s disease (HD) by elucidating how the mutant huntingtin protein affects cortical and striatal function and communication. My recent work in the Krainer Lab contributed to the lab’s goal of studying the intersection of RNA splicing and genetic diseases. My dissertation focused on applying antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) as a potential therapy for a deadly class of pediatric gliomas, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
Outside of lab, I enjoy hiking, reading, trivia, baking, catching up on TV shows and movies, and annoying my cat.
Awards:
2024 SUNY Graduate Research Empowering and Accelerating Talent (GREAT) Award
2023 NIH-NCI NRSA F30 Research Fellowship
2023 SBU Graduate Program in Genetics Distinguished Service Award
2023 SBU MSTP Excellence in Community Service Award
Publications:
(MSTP-supported publications indicated with an *)
*Zhang Q, Yang L, Liu YH, Wilkinson JE, Krainer AR. Antisense oligonucleotide therapy for H3.3K27M diffuse midline glioma. Sci Transl Med. 2023;15(691):eadd8280. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.add8280.
*Kim YJ, Nomakuchi T, Papaleonidopoulou F, Yang L, Zhang Q, Krainer AR. Gene-specific nonsense-mediated mRNA decay targeting for cystic fibrosis therapy. Nat Commun. 2022 May 27;13(1):2978. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30668-y.
Gu X, Richman J, Langfelder P, Wang N, Zhang S, Bañez-Coronel M, Wang HB, Yang L, Ramanathan L, Deng L, Park CS, Choi CR, Cantle JP, Gao F, Gray M, Coppola G, Bates GP, Ranum LPW, Horvath S, Colwell CS, Yang XW. Uninterrupted CAG repeat drives striatum-selective transcriptionopathy and nuclear pathogenesis in human Huntingtin BAC mice. Neuron. 2022 Apr 6;110(7):1173-1192.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.01.006.
*Kim YJ, Sivetz N, Layne J, Voss DM, Yang L, Zhang Q, Krainer AR. Exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotides for cystic fibrosis therapy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jan 18;119(3):e2114858118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2114858118.
