Dr Gege (Maggie) Yang

About

After obtaining my bachelor's degree in Biosciences in the University of Science and Technology of China, I started my Ph.D. study in the field of protein trafficking, under the supervision of Prof. David K. Banfield in the Division of Life Science, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. My thesis research focused on the remodeling and sorting of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) in budding yeasts (S. cerevisiae), specifically identified two Golgi-resident remodelases, Dcr2p and Cdc1p. Here, the remodelase, Cdc1p was encoded by gene CDC1, which was first identified as a cell division cycle gene. My studies revealed that cdc1 conditional mutants were not only deficient in the transport of GPI-APs to the cell surface, but also displayed cell cycle arrest, indicating a interconnection between GPI-APs remodeling and cell cycle progression. Intrigued by this discovery, I decided to continue this adventure of cell cycle study in my postdoctoral research. 

Research 

In 2021, I joined Prof. Barr’s group. I currently study the mitotic protein kinases and phosphatases involved in cell growth and division. The focus is to decipher the spatial and temporal regulation of Aurora A during cell cycle. It has been identified that PP6 holoenzyme is the major phosphatase for Aurora A and plays essential role in antagonising the phosphorylation of Aurora A thus to ensure chromosome stability and prevent tumorigenesis. PP6 consists of catalytic (PPP6C), regulatory (SAPS1/2/3) and scaffold (ANKRD28/44/52) subunits. To further explore the molecular basis for PP6 regulated Aurora A, I applied biochemical approaches, such as Co-IP, to identify physiologically protein-protein interactions. Meanwhile, I have utilized state-of-art techniques such as CRISPR, immunofluorescence microscopy, and live cell imaging to track the intracellular distribution of several important proteins with cell cycle phase.