Yeo Lab

Degrees

B.S. Molecular and Cell Biology, UCLA 2011

Summary

Yilan graduated UCLA with a Molecular and Cell Biology degree. Her senior thesis work with Dr. Luisa-Iruela Arispe was to investigate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 in nonpathological endothelial cells during response to oxidative stress. After graduation, she spent two years at the National Institutes of Health working with Dr. Petr Kalab in the Center for Cancer Research, where she designed novel biochemical assays to elucidate the role of cell-cycle proteins that regulate, nucleate and maintain the mitotic spindle using a cell-free cytoplasm in vitro model system. During this time, she and her lab discovered that importin-alpha family of proteins positively regulate mitotic spindle integrity and nucleation. Her most recent work was at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the Mass Spectrometry Core. Working with Drs. Ted Ognibene and Heather Enright, she found that environmental levels of fetal triclocarbon exposure disrupts lipid metabolism in mice through dysregulation of genetic pathways that regulate adipose oxidation and insulin sensitivity.

Led by her broad interest in technology development and genetics, she is currently working on RNA imaging tools with the aim of employing these applications to elucidate biological questions such as RNA cycling dynamics in stress granules over time, and sub-cellular compartmentalization of transcripts during neuronal injury and repair.

She is also excited to develop her nascent computational and bioinformatics skills from the rich expertise offered by her lab during her PhD training. Outside the laboratory, she enjoys windsurfing, rock climbing, making sushi, and visiting the sunny San Diego beaches.

Publications

• Smargon AA, Shi YJ, Yeo GW. RNA-targeting CRISPR systems from metagenomic discovery to transcriptomic engineering. Nat Cell Biol. 2020