Harvard School of Dental Medicine | United States
Prof. Yingzi Yang is a distinguished developmental biologist whose career spans leading institutions including Harvard Medical School and the National Institutes of Health. She earned her BS in Biology from Fudan University in 1988 and completed her PhD in Molecular Biology at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 1996, followed by postdoctoral training with Andrew P. McMahon at Harvard University. She joined the NIH in 2000 as an Investigator and rose to Senior Investigator before being appointed Professor of Developmental Biology at Harvard Medical School in 2015, where she also serves as Principal Faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and a member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Widely recognized for her contributions to Wnt signaling, skeletal biology, and developmental mechanisms, Prof. Yang has received numerous honors including the AAAS Fellowship, ASBMR Fellowship, the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award, multiple NIH Awards of Merit, and the Vincent du Vigneaud Award of Excellence. She has held major leadership roles such as President of the Chinese Biological Investigators Society (2022–2024), member of the NIH SBDD Study Section, and keynote speaker at national scientific meetings. Her extensive service includes high-level Harvard committees, NIH central tenure committees, Gordon Research Conference leadership, international symposium organization, and major grant review panels for NIH, NSF, and global scientific agencies. A respected scholar and reviewer for top-tier journals including Cell, Nature family journals, Science family journals, and Development, Prof. Yang is recognized worldwide for advancing fundamental understanding of developmental and stem cell biology and their implications for human disease.
Featured Publications
"Disrupting bile acid metabolism by suppressing Fxr causes hepatocellular carcinoma induced by YAP activation", Y Liu, J Zhu, Y Jin, Z Sun, X Wu, H Zhou, Y Yang, Nature Communications 16 (1), 2025.
"Fibrous dysplasia/McCune-Albright syndrome: state-of-the-art advances, pathogenesis, and basic/translational research", B Palmisano, C Berry, A Boyce, JF Charles, MT Collins, A Corsi, FA Fierro, Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases 20 (1), 2025.
"Piezo1-mediated mechanotransduction controls osteocyte maturation and dendrite development via a YAP-CCN-Src signaling axis", YJ Hu, X Wu, F Wang, Y Jin, Y Jin, Y Liu, Q Cong, Y Yang, Nature Communications, 2025.
"Injury-induced niche factors Cxcl12 and Shh/Ihh coordinate suture stem cell activation during calvarial bone regeneration", B Li, T Ouchi, J Liu, Y Yang, Science Signaling 18 (909), 2025.
"Neutralization of Receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand reduces fibrosis and promotes osteoblast differentiation in a mouse model of fibrous dysplasia driven", RT Ormsby, Y Zhang, C Hodys, LA Wake, SM Perez, K Tsang, Y Yang, JBMR plus 9 (10), 2025.