The Accelerating Medicines Partnership® in Common Metabolic Diseases brings together researchers from multiple institutions to work towards the goal of better understanding and treatment of common metabolic diseases. Get to know the members of the consortium in this new series of articles: CMDKP Spotlight. Our inaugural CMDKP Spotlight features Dr. Wenli Yang of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Wenli Yang, a member of the AMP® CMD Penn Team, is a Research Assistant Professor of Medicine and the director of the iPSC Core at the University of Pennsylvania. Wenli is a principal investigator on the AMP-CMD funded award "Functional interrogation of T2D-associated genes in human stem-cell derived models and mice", and she co-leads, with Anna Gloyn, the consortium’s Models and Assays Working Group.
Wenli’s scientific background
Wenli received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles. After her postdoctoral work, which focused on transcriptional regulation of adipose tissue development and function, she moved to the University of Pennsylvania and established the iPSC Core in 2009 to accelerate stem cell research both at Penn and in external research communities. The iPSC Core provides expertise and services in culture, derivation, and directed differentiation of iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) and in genome editing of iPSCs using CRISPR-based methods, and is also engaged in a broad array of collaborative projects using iPSC-derived models in the areas of cardiomyocyte biology, lung regeneration, retinal disease, hepatocyte biology and muscle regeneration. In the past 2 years, Wenli’s group has also been using some of these cell types to model SARS-CoV-2 infection and perform drug screens. She is the current president of the Stem Cell COREdinates, an international consortium of human pluripotent stem cell-focused core facilities that share expertise with protocols, reagents, and technological advancements to establish "best practices".
Current research interests
In recent years Wenli’s research interests have returned to those of her postdoctoral work, and she is now using iPSC models to study gene function in the context of diabetes. One project, a collaboration with bioengineers, immunologists, islet physiologists and other stem cell biologists, aims to create robust microphysiological systems containing patient iPSC-derived pancreatic islets, immune cells, and vasculature to recapitulate the process of islet autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes (T1D). A second project aims at understanding the mechanisms of action through which type 2 diabetes (T2D) GWAS signals and their effector genes affect disease development. Her group is developing and validating human iPSC models of adipose, muscle and liver in the context of establishing robust functional assays of insulin action, and will collaborate with other groups to use these models combined with gene editing to link genotype to phenotype. Her group is also using cellular models, including the iPSC models in development, to better understand the molecular mechanisms linking T2D GWAS variants and genes to skeletal muscle dysfunction and insulin resistance.
Reflections on AMP-CMD and the CMDKP
When asked what makes AMP-CMD special to her, Wenli replied that it’s the breadth of scientific interactions that the program has brought her: meeting so many new colleagues with different expertise, who work in diverse systems. And the CMD Knowledge Portal has become a go-to resource for her to find additional genetic and genomic evidence that supports further study of genes and variants her group is interested in pursuing.
Life outside the lab
When not at the lab or office, Wenli enjoys spending time with her family and their two cats, watching her daughters’ soccer matches on weekends and trying out new cooking recipes.