Wenlan Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist, A.I. duPont Hospital for Children
Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Thomas Jefferson University
Wang
Phone: (302) 651-6872
Fax: (302) 651-6767
Email: wwang@nemours.org
Address:
Room 204, RC Building #1
Research Department
A.I. duPont Hospital for Children
1600 Rockland Road
Wilmington, DE 19803
Education
- M.S., M.D. - Shanghai Medical University (China)
- M.S. - Polytechnic University of New York
- Ph.D. - University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Nemours Education and Research Program
An Alliance to Foster Biomedical Research Between the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Delaware and Nemours Biomedical Research at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children/Nemours Children's Clinic
Research Interests
My research interests cover cell proliferation and apoptosis, chromosome structure, gene regulation, and signal transduction pathways. Currently, my lab is studying a pediatric disease called spinal muscular atrophy. We are interested in understanding the molecular basis of this devastating disease and working towards to find a cure.
Current Projects
The main focus of our research is to study the mechanism(s) of cell death in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMA is a pediatric neuromuscular disease characterized with motor neuron degeneration and muscle wasting. The disease is caused by either mutations or deletions of survival motor neuron gene (SMN1). We have shown that skin fibroblasts from SMA patients are more sensitive to certain chemical-induced cell death. We are currently using patient fibroblasts, PC12 cells and rat primary motor neuron cultures as our model systems to further investigate the biological pathways and signaling molecules that may be involved in this process.
Research Group
- Ilsa Gómez-Curet, Ph.D. - Assistant Research Scientist (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Studying the neuronal survival role of the survival motor neuron proteins using rat primary motor neuron cultures as the model system.
- Chia-Yen Wu, M.S. - Ph.D. Graduate Student (M.S., SUNY at Buffalo). Studying signaling pathways of cell death in spinal muscular atrophy using patient derived fibroblasts; identifying motor neuron specific survival motor neuron complexes.
- Dosh Whye, B.S. - Research Assistant II (B.S., Boston College). Developing a motor neuron model from differentiated embryonic stem cells to study cell death in spinal muscular atrophy.
- Amelia Curtis - Undergraduate student. Studying phosphorylation of the survival motor neuron protein.
- Steven Foltz - Undergraduate student. Studying abnormal protein expression in spinal muscular atrophy embryonic stem cells.
- Amanda Vent - Undergraduate student. Studying shuttle of survival motor neuron protein complex in neuronal cells.
Selected Publications
- Wu C-Y, Gomez-Curet I, Funanage VL, Scavina M, Wang W. Increased susceptibility of spinal muscular atrophy fibroblasts to camptothecin is p53 independent. BMC Cell Biol. 2009:in press.
- Zhang H-M, Robinson N, Gomez-Curet I, Wang W, Harrington MA. Neuronal and network activity in networks of cultured spinal motor neurons. Neuroreport. 2009:in press.
- Gomez-Curet I, Robinson KG, Funanage VL, Crawford TO, Scavina M, Wang W. Robust quantification of the SMN gene copy number by real-time TaqMan PCR. Neurogenetics. 2007;8(4):271–278.
- Wang W, van Niekerk E, Willis DE, Twiss JL. RNA transport and localized protein synthesis in neurological disorders and neural repair. Dev Neurobiol. 2007;67(9):1166–1182.
- Wang W, Dimatteo D, Funanage VL, Scavina M. Increased susceptibility of spinal muscular atrophy fibroblasts to camptothecin-induced cell death. Mol Genet Metab. 2005;85(1):38–45.
- Wang W, He Z, O'Shaughnessy TJ, Rux J, Reenstra WW. Domain-domain associations in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2002;282(5):C1170–80.
- Yoo JY, Wang W, Desiderio S, Nathans D. Synergistic activity of STAT3 and c-Jun at a specific array of DNA elements in the alpha 2-macroglobulin promoter. J Biol Chem. 2001;276(28):26421–26429.
- Park OK, Schaefer LK, Wang W, Schaefer TS. Dimer stability as a determinant of differential DNA binding activity of Stat3 isoforms. J Biol Chem. 2000;275(41):32244–32249.
- Turnell AS, Grand RJ, Gorbea C, et al. Regulation of the 26S proteasome by adenovirus E1A. Embo J. 2000;19(17):4759–4773.
- Wang WL, Healy ME, Sattler M, et al. Growth inhibition and modulation of kinase pathways of small cell lung cancer cell lines by the novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor STI 571. Oncogene. 2000;19(31):3521–3528.
- Grand RJ, Turnell AS, Mason GG, et al. Adenovirus early region 1A protein binds to mammalian SUG1-a regulatory component of the proteasome. Oncogene. 1999;18(2):449–458.
- Skopp R, Wang W, Price C. rTP: a candidate telomere protein that is associated with DNA replication. Chromosoma. 1996;105(2):82–91.
- Wang W, Chevray PM, Nathans D. Mammalian Sug1 and c-Fos in the nuclear 26S proteasome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996;93(16):8236–8240.
- Wang W, Skopp R, Scofield M, Price C. Euplotes crassus has genes encoding telomere-binding proteins and telomere-binding protein homologs. Nucleic Acids Res. 1992;20(24):6621–6629.
