Investigator, Assoc Prof Ex Fd Cardiology, Mass General Research Institute

Lecturer on Medicine, Part-time Harvard Medical School

aminopeptidases; core binding factor alpha 2 subunit; deoxyribonucleases; deoxyribonucleases, type ii site-specific; gene knockout techniques; mutagenesis, site-directed; oncogene proteins, fusion; small molecule libraries; toxicology; zebrafish; zebrafish proteins; zinc fingers

Jing-Ruey Joanna Yeh’s research program seeks to identify disease mechanisms and discover effective therapies for cancer and cardiovascular diseases using innovative approaches and zebrafish, cell culture and mouse models.  Through a chemical suppressor screen in a zebrafish model of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the Yeh lab has previously identified that cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors can suppress self-renewal of leukemia stem cells that express the AML1-ETO oncogene. This finding implies that COX-2 inhibitors may protect against relapse in AML patients. The current research focuses are directed to understand the roles of several metabolic enzymes and their metabolites in oncogenic transformation and heart diseases. Dr. Yeh’s long-term goal is to translate the knowledge obtained in her lab into clinic.

In addition, Joanna Yeh’s research team (in collaboration with Keith Joung and Randall Peterson’s groups at MGH) has also been at the forefront of advancing technologies for zebrafish genome engineering using various customizable site-specific nuclease platforms such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), TALE nucleases (TALENs) and CRISPR/Cas. These technologies make it possible to use zebrafish as a powerful in vivo model for large-scale functional genomics studies.

Dr. Yeh received her PhD from Yale University after studying with Dr. Craig Crews in chemical biology. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Randall Peterson at MGH. Dr. Yeh is a recipient of the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award and the Hassenfeld Clinical Scholar Award from MGH. Her research has been published in Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Biotechnology, Cell Metabolism, Nature Methods, PNAS, Blood and others.