Chinese-American biochemist
Xiaodong Wang (born 1963) is a Chinese-American
biochemist best known for his work with
apoptosis , one of the ways through which
cells
kill themselves.
Early life and education
Wang was born in
Wuhan ,
China in 1963, and was raised in
Xinxiang ,
Henan by his grandparents. His family was relatively well-educated. His grandfather was a
high school
English
teacher , his grandmother a
primary school teacher, and his great uncle a
biology
professor . His primary and secondary coincided with the
Cultural Revolution , and he only started high school in 1978 at a top high school in Henan.
[1]
[3]
He entered the
Beijing Normal University in 1980,
[1] majoring in
biology , and completed 4 years later.
[4] His
undergraduate thesis supervisor, Shaobai Xue, introduced him to
cell biology and
biochemistry , and prompted him to pursue
postgraduate studies in biochemistry.
[1]
Through the government-sponsored Chinese-US Biochemistry Examination and Application (CUSBEA) program, the biochemistry counterpart to
CUSPEA , Wang went to the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1985 for his
PhD .
[1] The CUSBEA program was initiated by the biochemist
Ray Wu at
Cornell University and lasted from 1982 to 1989.
[5]
[6] He graduated in 1991.
[4]
Career
After obtaining his
PhD , Wang moved to the research group of
Joseph L. Goldstein and
Michael Stuart Brown , also at the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) as a
postdoctoral fellow . He joined the Department of
Biochemistry of
Emory University in 1995 as an
assistant professor , then returned to UTSW a year later as an assistant professor at its Department of Biochemistry. He was promoted to
associate professor in 1999.
[4] In 2001, Wang was appointed the George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in
Biomedical Sciences .
[7]
Wang became an investigator at the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1997.
[8]
Since 2003, Wang has been an investigator at the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS). In 2010, he ended all his positions in the
United States and returned to
China to take up the role of director of NIBS.
[7]
Wang co-founded two
biotechnology companies: Joyant Pharmaceuticals in 2004 and
BeiGene in 2010.
[9] He currently chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of BeiGene.
[10]
Wang chaired the Science Committee of the Future Science Prize in 2017, and currently sits on the committee.
[11]
Research
Wang's research on
apoptosis began accidentally when he was a
postdoctoral fellow at the research group of
Joseph L. Goldstein and
Michael Stuart Brown at the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center . Apoptosis is a form of
programmed cell death , which is the mechanisms that
cells use kill themselves. Brown and Goldstein were at the time studying the
transcriptional regulation of the
low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor in response to
cholesterol level. One of the regulatory mechanisms was through the activation of
SREBP , a
protein that regulates the
manufacturing of
mRNA from
genes coding for proteins that import and synthesize cholesterol. SREBP bound to
nuclear envelope and
endoplasmic reticulum membranes, and had to be cleaved to be activated.
[12]
In 1995, Wang reported a protein in
hamsters believed to be the one that cleaved SREBP. However, he also found that the human counterpart of this hamster protein was CPP32, which itself was related to one of the first proteins shown to be involved in initiating apoptosis.
[13] The CPP32 protein was officially renamed
caspase 3 the following year.
[14]
Breakthrough came during Wang's one year at
Emory University , when he developed a cell-free,
in vitro system that replicated the activation of caspase 3 and the initiation of apoptosis.
[3] Using this system, his group characterized the proteins required for starting apoptosis, including
cytochrome c ,
[15]
Bcl-2 ,
[16]
APAF1 ,
[17] and
pro-caspase-9 .
[18]
In 1997, his group reported the activation steps of apoptosis: Bcl-2 regulates the release of cytochrome c from the
mitochondria to the
cytosol , then cytochrome c binds to APAF1 and forms a protein complex called the
apoptosome . The apoptosome recruits and cleaves procaspase-9 to the active form caspase-9, which in turn cleaves procaspase-3 to the active caspase 3.
[18]
Apart from apoptosis, Wang also discovered the
necroptosis pathway, which is the programmed form of
necrosis and another way that a
cell
kills itself. He established the role of
RIPK3 and the
MLKL protein in necroptosis.
[19]
Honors and awards
References
^
a
b
c
d
e
"Autobiography of Xiaodong Wang" .
Shaw Prize . Archived from
the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023 .
^
"王晓东(Xiaodong Wang)" (in Chinese).
Chinese Academy of Sciences . Archived from
the original on October 17, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023 .
^
a
b Zagorski, Nick (2006).
"Profile of Xiaodong Wang" .
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 103 (1): 7–9.
doi :
10.1073/pnas.0509187103 .
PMC
1324996 .
PMID
16380419 . Archived from
the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023 .
^
a
b
c
"王晓东博士" (in Chinese). National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing. Archived from
the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023 .
^ Chang, Zengyi (2009).
"The CUSBEA program: Twenty years after" .
IUBMB Life . 61 (6): 555–565.
doi :
10.1002/iub.218 .
PMID
19472190 . Archived from
the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023 .
^ Gu, Xiaocheng (2009).
"Ray Wu and the CUSBEA Program" . Science in China Series C: Life Sciences . 52 (2): 125–127.
doi :
10.1007/s11427-009-0020-9 .
PMID
19277521 . Retrieved October 19, 2023 .
^
a
b "DIRECTORS AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT".
BeiGene, Ltd. Global Offering Prospectus (PDF) .
BeiGene . July 30, 2018. p. 323. Archived from
the original (PDF) on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023 .
^
"Xiaodong Wang, PhD" .
Howard Hughes Medical Institute . Archived from
the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023 .
^
"BeiGene" .
Forbes . Archived from
the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023 .
^
"Xiaodong Wang, Ph.D." BeiGene. Archived from
the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023 .
^
"Xiaodong WANG" . Future Science Prize. Archived from
the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023 .
^
"SREBPs: activators of the complete program of cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis in the liver" .
Journal of Clinical Investigation . 109 (9): 1125–1131. 2002.
doi :
10.1172/JCI15593 .
PMC
150968 .
PMID
11994399 . Archived from
the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023 .
^ Wang, Xiaodong; Pai, Jih-tung; Wiedenfeld, Elizabeth A.; Medina, Julio C.; Slaughter, Clive A.;
Goldstein, Joseph L. ;
Brown, Michael S. (1995).
"Purification of an Interleukin-1β Converting Enzyme-related Cysteine Protease That Cleaves Sterol Regulatory Element-binding Proteins between the Leucine Zipper and Transmembrane Domains" .
Journal of Biological Chemistry . 270 (30): 18044–18050.
doi :
10.1074/jbc.270.30.18044 .
PMID
7629113 . Archived from
the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023 .
^
Alnemri, Emad S. ; Livingston, David J.; Nicholson, Donald W.;
Salvesen, Guy ;
Thornberry, Nancy A. ; Wong, Winnie W.;
Yuan, Junying (1996).
"Human ICE/CED-3 Protease Nomenclature" .
Cell . 87 (2): 171.
doi :
10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81334-3 .
PMID
8861900 . Retrieved October 27, 2023 .
^ Liu, Xuesong; Kim, Caryn Naekyung; Yang, Jie; Jemmerson, Ronald; Wang, Xiaodong (1996).
"Induction of Apoptotic Program in Cell-Free Extracts: Requirement for dATP and Cytochrome c" . Cell . 86 (1): 147–157.
doi :
10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80085-9 .
PMID
8689682 . Archived from
the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023 .
^ Yang, Jie; Liu, Xuesong; Bhalla, Kapil; Kim, Caryn Naekyung; Ibrado, Ana Maria; Cai, Jiyang; Peng, Tsung-I; Jones, Dean P.; Wang, Xiaodong (1997).
"Prevention of Apoptosis by Bcl-2: Release of Cytochrome c from Mitochondria Blocked" .
Science . 275 (5303): 1129–1132.
doi :
10.1126/science.275.5303.1129 .
PMID
9027314 . Retrieved October 30, 2023 .
^ Zou, Hua; Henzel, William J.; Liu, Xuesong; Lutschg, Alexis; Wang, Xiaodong (1997).
"Apaf-1, a human protein homologous to C. elegans CED-4, participates in cytochrome c-dependent activation of caspase-3" . Cell . 90 (3): 405–413.
doi :
10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80501-2 .
ISSN
0092-8674 .
PMID
9267021 .
S2CID
18105320 . Archived from
the original on October 30, 2023.
^
a
b Li, Peng; Nijhawan, Deepak; Budihardjo, Imawati; Srinivasula, Srinivasa M.; Ahmad, Manzoor; Alnemri, Emad S.; Wang, Xiaodong (1997).
"Cytochrome c and dATP-Dependent Formation of Apaf-1/Caspase-9 Complex Initiates an Apoptotic Protease Cascade" . Cell . 91 (4): 479–489.
doi :
10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80434-1 .
PMID
9390557 . Archived from
the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023 .
^ Sun, Liming; Wang, Huayi; Wang, Zhigao; He, Sudan; Chen, She; Liao, Daohong; Wang, Lai; Yan, Jiacong; Liu, Weilong; Lei, Xiaoguang; Wang, Xiaodong (2012).
"Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-like Protein Mediates Necrosis Signaling Downstream of RIP3 Kinase" . Cell . 148 (1–2): 213–227.
doi :
10.1016/j.cell.2011.11.031 .
PMID
22265413 . Archived from
the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023 .
^
"Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry" (PDF) . Division of Biological Chemistry,
American Chemical Society . Archived from
the original (PDF) on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023 .
^
"Xiaodong Wang" .
National Academy of Sciences . Archived from
the original on October 24, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2023 .
^
"NAS Award in Molecular Biology" . National Academy of Sciences. Archived from
the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023 .
^
"Richard Lounsbery Award" . National Academy of Sciences. Archived from
the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023 .
^
"Life Science & Medicine 2006" . Shaw Prize. Archived from
the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023 .
^ Hunt, Geoff (February 23, 2012).
"Wang lauded as 'one of the most highly original, bold and creative scientists' " . Archived from
the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023 .
^
"关于公布2013年中国科学院院士增选和外籍院士选举结果的公告" (in Chinese). Chinese Academy of Sciences. December 19, 2013. Archived from
the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023 .
^
"Xiaodong Wang" .
European Molecular Biology Organization . Archived from
the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023 .
^
"Professor Xiaodong Wang" .
King Faisal Prize . Archived from
the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023 .
Astronomy Life science and medicine Mathematical science
International National Academics Other