Danzhou Yang

Title:

Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Contact:

Email Address: yangdz@purdue.edu
Office Phone: 765-494-8148
Lab Website Link: http://danzhou-yang.com/

Primary Training Group:

Biomolecular Structure and Biophysics

Secondary Training Groups:

Cancer Biology, Chemical Biology

Research Areas:

Research in my laboratory is focused on structures and functions of cancer-specific DNA molecular targets and structure-based rational drug design. Particularly, we work on G-quadruplex (G4) DNA secondary structures formed in human oncogene promoters and human telomeres, which are attractive new molecular targets for cancer therapeutics. We seek to understand structure-function relationships of DNA G-quadruplexes, their protein interactions and drug targeting. In addition, we work on DNA-targeted anticancer drugs that inhibit transcription factors and topoisomerases. We use a combination of structural, biophysical, biochemical, molecular, and cellular methods in our research, in particular high-field NMR spectroscopy for biomolecular structural study.