Lab Meeting Schedule
Thursday 8:45am-10:30am, Room 108, VMR
Lab News
October 2024
Congratulations to Anil, Djamal, and Lara for our new publication: Stimulation of neutral lipid synthesis via viral growth factor signaling and ATP citrate lyase during vaccinia virus infection. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.01103-24
Michelle started a rotation in the Yang lab. Welcome, Michelle!
September 2024
Congratulations to Anil for winning the third place in the inaugural VMBS 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) /Flash Talk Competition!
August 2024
Ziyue joined the Yang Lab as a new BIMS Ph.D. student. Welcome, Ziyue!
May 2024
Welcome Ashlyn Parrott, a Summer Undergraduate Research in Genetics and Genomics (SURGe) Scholar conducting research in the Yang Lab!
April 2024
Congratulations to Anil for receiving the 2024 Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Associate Award, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, TAMU.
Congratulations to Zhilong for receiving 2024 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, TAMU.
Texas A&M today: Is smallpox still a threat? https://m.tamu.edu/facultystaff/tamunews/detail?feed=tamu_headlines&id=b585af6a-b818-5448-b335-14ac1d34df1e
March 2024
A new report: Future State of Smallpox Medical Countermeasure, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was released. The report says that action is needed to improve readiness for smallpox and related diseases, as well as to improve diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. Zhilong was among the study committee to generate this report. https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2024/03/action-needed-to-improve-u-s-smallpox-readiness-and-diagnostics-vaccines-and-therapeutics-says-new-report
Zhilong’s paper, Monkeypox: A potential global threat?, was among the most widely read and downloaded papers in Journal of Medical Virology published in 2022.
Congratulations to Faithful for a successful Master’s thesis defense! Faithful, we wish you the best in your future endeavors!
February 2024
The Yang Lab is featured in VMBS news! https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/press-releases/yang-mpox/
Huge congratulations to all the Yang lab members: Djamal, Anil, Santiago, Yining, and Lara for their excellent work presenting their research in the CVM 2024 TRAINEE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM! Anil and Djamal brought back multiple awards: First place for Flash talk (Anil), second place for Platform presentation (Anil), and third place for poster presentation (Djamal)!
November/December 2023
The Yang lab research was featured in the VMBS Today Magazine (Page 52). https://indd.adobe.com/view/2284a45b-536f-41d4-a851-2ecf2de14286
Congratulations to Santiago and Lara for their new publication “MVA titration by plaque assay using crystal violet staining in DF‐1 cells“. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s44280-023-00031-x.pdf
Zhilong was recently invited to serve as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Current State of Research, Development, and Stockpiling of Smallpox Medical Countermeasures. https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/current-state-of-research-development-and-stockpiling-of-smallpox-medical-countermeasures#sectionCommittee
October 2023
Congratulations to Faithful for winning the Fall 2023 VMBS-GSA Travel Award!
September 2023
Both Djamal and Anil gave an outstanding talk in the Texas A&M University 7th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium. Anil won the second place award for his flash talk on antiviral development.
Santiago and Zhilong Attended the XXIV International Poxvirus, Asfarvirus, and Iridovirus Conference (Sep2-6), in Düsseldorf, Germany. They presented two talks and two posters, and discussed poxviruses with colleagues all over the world.
August 2023
Yining Deng joined the Yang Lab! Yining is from China Agricultural University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in the BIMS graduate program. Welcome Yining!
Congratulations to Pragyesh and Djamal for their new publication: Dhungel, P., et al. “La-related protein 4 is enriched in vaccinia virus factories and is required for efficient viral replication in primary human fibroblasts.” Microbiology Spectrum 0(0): e01390-01323. https://journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10.1128/spectrum.01390-23
June 2023
Lara, Djamal, and Zhilong attended the 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology at The Classic Center in Athens, Georgia and hosted by the University of Georgia. They presented the work on antiviral development (Lara), decapping enzyme and mitochondria (Djamal), and viral alterations of fatty acid biosynthesis (Anil’s work, presented by Zhilong). It was a great meeting!
Congratulations to Lara for passing her prelim exam! Now Lara is a Ph.D. Candidate!
Congratulations to Lara for her first first-author paper accepted and published in Antiviral Research! Congratulations to all the co-authors: Anil, Samuel (UMN), Lalita(CDC), Blake, Sathesh (CDC), ZQ (UMN) and Zhilong! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354223001298
May 2023
The Yang lab is well-represented at the SVM 2023 TRAINEE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM! Djamal gave an oral presentation. Anil, Santiago, and Faithful presented their posters.
Texas A&M Announced First Round Of Research Leadership Fellowships. Zhilong is one of the faculty researchers awarded this seed grant. We are very excited and thankful for this great opportunity! https://today.tamu.edu/2023/05/11/texas-am-announces-first-round-of-research-leadership-fellowships/
The Yang lab is awarded an R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health together with our collaborator, Dr. Xin Yan and her team in the Department of Chemistry at TAMU. We will investigate the non-canonical ORFs encoded in the vaccinia virus genome.
Congrats to Blake for his graduation with a bachelor degree! We wish you the best in your future endeavors!
April 2023
Congratulations to Lara for being awarded a TAMU Summer 2023 VMBS-GSA Travel Award!
Congratulations to Djamal for being awarded a TAMU CVMBS-PDA Travel Award!
Congratulations to Djamal for winning a Postdoctoral Scholar Travel Award to attend the 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology (ASV 2023) held at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia, and hosted by the University of Georgia, June, 2023.
March 2023
Check out our two new preprints!
- Dsouza L, Pant A, Offei S, Priyamvada L, Pope B, Satheshkumar PS, Wang Z, Yang Z. Antiviral activities of two nucleos(t)ide analogs against vaccinia and mpox viruses in primary human fibroblasts. BioRxiv. 2023 March. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.23.533943.
- Dhungel P, Belhaouari DB, Yang Z. La-related protein 4 is enriched in vaccinia virus factories and is required for efficient viral replication in primary human fibroblasts. bioRxiv. 2023 Mar 11;. doi: 10.1101/2023.03.10.532125. PubMed PMID: 36945573; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10029068.
The Yang lab website at TAMU is launched!
May, 2021
The Yang Lab moved from Kansas State University to Texas A & M University
Achieved news events prior to April 2021
April 2021
Anil Pant, doctoral candidate in biology, Nepal, was awarded the $17,600 Alvin and RosaLee Sarachek Predoctoral Honors Fellowship in Molecular Biology. Congratulations, Dr. Pant!
March 2021
Congratulations to Anil for a successful dissertation defense! We look forward to your greater contibutions to science, Dr. Pant!
Candy Hernandez passed her prelim exam. Congrats to Ph.D. candidate Candy!
Congratulations to Lara for winning the 2nd place at K-State’s 2021 Three Minute Thesis competition. Great job, Lara!
January 2021
Our manuscript ‘Viral Growth Factor and STAT3 Signaling-Dependent Elevation of the TCA Cycle Intermediate levels During Vaccinia Virus Infection’ has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Pathogens. Congratulations to Anil, Lara, Shuai, and Chen!
November 2020
Congratulations to Josh Spradlin and Lake Winter for winning the Johnson Cancer Research Center Cancer Research Awards!
August 2020
Our manuscript entitled “Poxvirus-encoded decapping enzymes promote selective translation of viral mRNAs” was accepted for publication in PLOS Pathogens. Congrats to Fred, Shuai, Candy, Pragyesh, and Josh Spradlin!
July 2020
Our Viewpoint manuscript “Asparagine: an Achilles Heel of Virus Replication?” was accepted for publication in ACS Infectious Diseases. Congrats to Anil! Keep it up!
Our manuscript “Identification of Vaccinia Virus Inhibitors and Cellular Functions Necessary for Efficient Viral Replication by Screening Bioactives and FDA-Approved Drugs” was accepted for publication in Vaccines (Basel). Congrats to Chen, Yannan, Shuai, Anil, Marlene, and our wonderful collaborators Peter and Anu.
Fred is moving to the Greater Boston area after three years in the Yang lab. We wish Fred the very best!
We’re excited that Mark Gray joins the Yang lab as a Research Assistant! Welcome, Mark!
May 2020
Our review paper “Vaccinia Virus as a Master of Host Shutoff Induction: Targeting Processes of the Central Dogma and Beyond” was published in Pathogens. Congrats to Pragyesh, Fred, and Josh!
Anil Pant won the 2020 L. Evans Roth Award for Graduate Student Research in Cellular, Molecular or Developmental Biology. Congratulations to Anil! Keep up the good work!
April 2020
Congrats to Anil Pant for receiving the Sarachek Travel Award in molecular biology!
Congrats to Lake Winter for earning the Division of Biology Most Promising Student Award!
Congrats to Candy for winning Johnson Cancer Research Center Graduate Summer Stipend Award!
March 2020
Zhilong is promoted to associate professor with tenure.
January 2020
We’re excited that Lara Dsouza joins the Yang Lab to complete her Ph.D. study! Welcome aboard, Lara!
December 2019
Zhilong recognized as Professor of The Week at the Dec. 7 K-State men’s home basketball game.
https://www.k-state.edu/today/announcement/?id=59646
November 2019
Joshua Molina passed his preliminary exam. Congrats to Ph.D. candidate Josh!
October 2019
Josh Spradlin and Lake Winter won the Johnson Cancer Research Center’s Cancer Research Awards (CRA). Congratulations, Josh and Lake!
September 2019
Our work was used as the example of success in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities and Discovery during President Myers’ 2019 State of the University address.
August 2019
Congratulations to Josh Spradlin and Lake Winter for winning K-INBRE Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards!
July 2019
We receive an RO1 grant to study vaccinia virus protein synthesis. Many thanks to NIH for supporting our research by a group of dedicated scientists in the Yang lab at K-State!
June 2019
Congratulations to Pragyesh for being selected as Kansas State University’s nominee for the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Biological Sciences!
May 2019
Josh Molina joined the Yang lab. Josh is a Ph.D. student. Welcome, Josh!
April 2019
Congrats to Marlene for the Dean of Student Life Outstanding Graduating Senior Award and the Robinson Family Multicultural Leadership Award!
Pragyesh passed his Ph.D. defense. Congrats to Dr. Dhungel!
Anil Pant was selected to receive an American Society for Virology Travel Award to attend the 2019 ASV annual meeting in the Twin Cities, MN. Congrats to Anil!
Our manuscript “Asparagine is a critical limiting metabolite for vaccinia virus protein synthesis during glutamine deprivation” is accepted for publication in the Journal of Virology. Congrats to Anil and Harry!
February 2019
Our manuscript “In vitro transcribed RNA-based luciferase reporter assay to study translation regulation in poxvirus-infected cells” is accepted for publication in JoVE. Congrats to Pragyesh, Fred and Candy!
January 2019
Josh Spradlin and Hunter Rahor joined the Yang lab as undergraduate researchers. Welcome, Josh and Hunter!
Candy Hernandez joined the Yang lab to carry out her Ph.D. thesis research. Welcome, Candy!
September 2018
First BioRxiv deposit from the Yang Lab
August 2018
Congratulations to Yanan for a successful thesis defense for her Master’s degree!
May 2018
Anil received the XXII International Poxvirus, Asfarvirus and Iridovirus Conference travel award, the Kansas State University Graduate Student Council travel award and the College of Arts and Sciences Travel grant to attend the poxvirus meeting 2018. Congrats!
Pragyesh received the XXII International Poxvirus, Asfarvirus and Iridovirus Conference travel award, the Kansas State University Graduate Student Council travel award and the College of Arts and Sciences Travel grant to attend the poxvirus meeting 2018. Congrats!
Pragyesh was awarded the 2018 Johnson Cancer research Center Graduate Student Summer Stipend. Congrats!
Shuai Cao was awarded the 2018 American Society for Virology Annual Meeting Travel Award and a Johnson Cancer Center travel award to attend the ASV meeting to be held in the University of Maryland-College Park, MD in July. Congrats!
Yanan Zhou won the 2018 American Society for Virology Annual Meeting Travel Award, the Kansas State University Graduate Student Council travel award and the College of Arts and Sciences Travel grant to attend the ASV meeting to be held in the University of Maryland-College Park, MD in July. Congrats!
April 2018
Pragyesh won the Alvin and RosaLee Sarachek Predoctoral Honors Fellowship and L. Evans Roth Award for Graduate Student Research in Cellular, Molecular or Developmental Biology. Congrats!
Our manuscript “Simultaneous and systematic analysis of cellular and viral gene expression during Enterovirus 71-induced host shutoff” was accepted for publication in Protein Cell.
November 2017
Members of Yang’s lab attended the 16th Annual Great Plains Infectious Disease Meeting (November 10 and 11th, 2017, Lawrence, KS). Pragyesh, Anil, Shuai, and Yanan each presented a poster. Zhilong gave a talk.
Marlene was selected to receive a Johnson Cancer Center CRA award. Congrats!
October 2017
Three manuscripts were accepted for publication recently
1. Cao S, Realegeno S, Pant A, Satheshkumar PS, Yang Z*. Suppression of poxvirus replication by resveratrol. Front Microbiol. Accepted.
2. Dhungel P, Cao S, Yang Z*. The 5′-poly(A) leader of poxvirus mRNA confers a translational advantage that can be achieved in cells with impaired cap-dependent translation. PLoS Pathog. 2017 Aug 30;13(8):e1006602.
K-State researchers’ finding could improve therapies for cancer, infectious diseases
3. Cao S, Dhungel P, Yang Z*. Going against the Tide: Selective Cellular Protein Synthesis during Virally Induced Host Shutoff. J Virol. 2017 Aug 10;91(17). pii: e00071-17. Review.
September 2017
Fred Cantu Joined the lab as a Research Assistant! Welcome, Fred!
July 2017
Chen Peng moved to Rockefeller University. Best wishes to Chen!
June 2017
Four members of Yang’s lab attended the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting between June 24 and June 28 held in Madison, Wisconsin. Zhilong served as the convener of the Poxvirus II Workshop. Chen Peng and Pragyesh Dhungel each gave an oral presentation. Anil Pant presented a poster.
April 2017
Chen’s application of the K-INBRE postdoc award was approved. Congrats!
Anil was awarded the 2017 Johnson Cancer research Center Graduate Student Summer Stipend. Congrats!
Anil was awarded the 2017 American Society for Virology Annual Meeting Travel Award to attend the meeting to be held in Madison, WI in June. Congrats!
Alex Roeder received Dale H& Joan Evens Nordstorm Cancer Cancer Research Award (Johnson Cancer Research Center). Congrats!
Marlene received an honorable mention for the Most Promising Student in the Developing Scholar Program Annual Research Symposium. Congrats!
Yanan Zhou completed her rotation and joined the Yang Lab. Welcome!
Pragyesh passed his preliminary exam and is a Ph.D. candidate now. Congrats!