- Senior Research Fellowship in 2001 at University of Hong Kong
Professor Dan Yang is presently Chair Professor of Chemical Biology at Westlake University.
Prof. Yang obtained her B.Sc. degree in chemistry from Fudan University in 1985. Through the U.S.-China Chemistry Graduate Program, she obtained an M.A. from Columbia in 1988 under the direction of Professor Ronald Breslow. She then joined Professor Daniel Kahne’s group at Princeton and got her Ph.D. in 1991. In the same year, she won a postdoctoral fellowship award from the Cancer Research Institute in New York to support her two-year research in Professor Stuart Schreiber’s group at Harvard. She started her independent career on organic chemistry and chemical biology at the University of Hong Kong in 1993 and was later promoted to a chair professor of chemistry and the Morningside Professor in Chemical Biology. In August 2021, Prof. Yang joined Westlake University as a chair professor in both School of Life Sciences and School of Science.
Prof. Yang's research aims at using organic chemistry and chemical biology tools to unravel the mysteries of life and explore novel approaches to treatment of human diseases. Her current research interests include 1) fluorescent/chemiluminescent sensors for molecular detection and imaging of reactive oxygen species, lipids, metabolites, and enzymes in living cells to study redox biology and human diseases; 2) molecular probes for proteins and nucleic acids to investigate epigenetic changes in relation to their functions; 3) synthetic ion transporters and their biological applications in eradicating cancer stem cells and drug-resistant bacteria.
Prof. Yang received many awards for her research excellence, including Mr. and Mrs. Sun Chan Memorial Award in Organic Chemistry, Croucher Senior Research Fellowship Award, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's Unrestricted Grant Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award by Junior Chamber International Hong Kong, Eli Lilly Scientific Excellence Award in China, Novartis Chemistry Lecturer , Eli Lilly lecturer in Organic Chemistry, TWAS Prize in Chemistry, Chinese Young Women in Science Fellowship, and Yoshida Prize by the International Organic Chemistry Foundation.