YAN Jie

PhD in experimental biophysics, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA (2005)
PhD, Institute of Theoretical Physics of CAS, China (1998)

Professor

Email: phyyj@nus.edu.sg
Office: S16-07-04
Tel: +65 6516 2620

Current Research

Our research is based on advanced single-molecule manipulation and imaging technologies. Current research interests include:

  • Molecular mechanisms of mechanosensing of cells
  • Interfering mechanosensing of cells using compounds
  • DNA packaging, gene regulation and DNA damage repair
  • Bacterial biofilm initiation and maintenance

Schematic representation of a magnetic tweezers setup to stretch short DNA molecules or proteins. (A) The DNA or protein is tethered between a paramagnetic bead and a coverslip surface. Force is applied to the bead by a pair of permanent magnets above the sample, and changing the distance between the magnets and the bead controls the magnitude of the force over a range from 0.1 pN to 200 pN. A bead stuck on the surface is used as a reference to eliminate drift in three dimensions. (B) Schematic representation of the application of the instrument to study interaction between a short DNA and a DNA bending protein. Association and disassociation of the protein lead to change in DNA extension which is monitored by the change in the height of the bead at a sub-nanometer resolution in real time.

Selected Publications

  • Le et al., “Mechanotransmission and Mechanosensing of Human alpha-Actinin 1”, Cell Reports 21 (10), 2714-2723 (2017).
  • Yu, Yuan et al., “mDia1 senses both force and torque during F-actin filament polymerization”, Nat. Commun. 8 (1), 1650 (2017).
  • Yuan et al., “Elasticity of the Transition State Leading to an Unexpected Mechanical Stabilization of Titin Immunoglobulin Domains”, Angewandte Chemie 129 (20), 5582-5585 (2017).
  • Yao, Goult et al., “The mechanical response of talin,” Nat. Commun. 7, 11966 (2016).
  • Chen, Yuan et al., “Dynamics of equilibrium folding and unfolding transitions of titin immunoglobulin domain under constant forces”, JACS 137, 3540 (2015).
  • You et al., “Stability and Kinetics of c-MYC Promoter G-Quadruplexes Studied by Single-Molecule Manipulation”, JACS 137, 2424 (2015).
  • Zhang et al., “Interconversion between three overstretched DNA structures”, JACS 136, 16073 (2014).
  • Yao et al., “Force-dependent conformational switch of alpha-catenin controls vinculin binding”, Nat. Commun. 5, 4525 (2014).

Affiliations & Links