Xiao YANG

Professor Xiao YANG

BSc.(Hons), PhD
Assistant Professor,
Department of Microbiology,
Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Professor Xiao YANG

xiaoyang@cuhk.edu.hk

Research

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3071-6531

Research interest
Discovery and development of first-in-class antimicrobial agents
AI-based drug design and discovery
Bacterial transcriptional regulation
Awards
2023Passion for Perfection Scheme, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2023Winner, Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award in the Category of Science Start-ups, Falling Wall Venture, Berlin, Germany
2019TechConnect Global Innovation Award, TechConnect World Conference and Expo, USA
2018Faculty Innovation Award, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2014Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence, The University of Newcastle, Australia
2011Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (APD), Australian Research Council
2009Outstanding achievement PhD award, The University of Newcastle, Australia
2009Becton-Dickinson (BD) Student Award, Australian Society of Microbiology
2006Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), Australian Research Council
2005University Medal, The University of Newcastle, Australia
Postgraduate students
Information for Postgraduate Study in Department of Microbiology
Our Team
Staff
Student
External Competitive Grants
PI, Incu-Bio programme (TSSSU) 2022, “YnnoMed: a Platform for the Discovery and Development of Novel Drugs”, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP), $6,000,000 HKD, 02/2023-03/2027.
PI, Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) 2021, “Evaluation of Chemical Inhibitors Targeting the Interaction between Bacterial RNA Polymerase and Transcription Factor NusA as Novel Antimicrobial Agents against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)”, $ 1,198,728 HKD, 03/10/2022-02/10/2024.
PI, General Research Fund (GRF) 2022/23, “Discovering bacterial transcription inhibitors as novel antimicrobial agents”, $1,179,235 HKD, 01/01/2023-31/12/2025.
PI, Midstream Research Programme for Universities (MRP) 2021, “Development of First-in-class Antimicrobial Agents with Novel Mode of Action towards Antibiotic Drug Candidates”, Innovation and Technology Commission, $5,100,000 HKD, 01/04/2022-30/09/2024.
PI, Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU) 2021, “YnnoMed: a Platform for the Discovery and Development of Novel Drugs”, Innovation and Technology Commission, $1,190,000 HKD, 04/2022-03/2025.
PI, HMRF 2021, “Evaluation of Chemical Inhibitors Targeting the Interaction between Bacterial RNA Polymerase and Transcription Factor NusA as Novel Antimicrobial Agents against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)”, Food and Health Bureau, $1,198,728 HKD, Results pending.
Co-PI, The French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche)/RGC Joint Research Scheme 2021/22, “Design, Development of New Synthetic Strategies and Evaluation of Antimicrobial N-heterocycles”, Research Grants Council, $2,968,143 HKD, $1 M attributed to Co-PI Yang, CUHK), 01/03/2022-28/02/2026.
PI, HMRF 2020, “Antimicrobial activities of the Novel Bacterial Transcription Inhibitor against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)”, Food and Health Bureau, $1,198,728 HKD, 04/10/2021-02/10/2023.
PI, General Research Fund 2020/21, “Activity evaluation and mechanistic studies of nusbiarylins, bacterial ribosomal RNA synthesis inhibitors as novel antimicrobial agents”, Research Grants Council, $996,285 HKD, 01/01/2021-31/12/2023.
Co-PI, Collaborative Research Fund 2019/20, “Study of Inhibitors Targeting Bacterial RNA Polymerase Holoenzyme Formation as Novel Antimicrobial Agents”, Research Grants Council, $4,974,462 total ($2.95 M attributed to CUHK; $1 M attributed to Co-PI Yang) HKD, 01/06/2020-31/15/2023.
PI, HMRF 2019, “The Effects of Novel Synthetic Antimicrobial Agents on the Pathogenicity of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)”, Food and Health Bureau, $1,184,736 HKD, 05/10/2020-04/10/2022.
PI, General Research Fund 2019/20, “Evaluation and mechanistic characterization of bacterial transcription initiation inhibitors as novel antimicrobial agents”, Research Grants Council, $830,136 HKD, 01/01/2020-30/06/2022.
PI, HMRF 2017, “Development and Evaluation of Novel Synthetic Bacterial Ribosomal RNA Transcription Inhibitors as Antimicrobials against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)”, Food and Health Bureau, $1,180,400 HKD, 01/04/2018-31/03/2020.
PI, General Research Fund 2016/17, “Structure Determination of Bacterial Transcription Complex for Antimicrobial Development”, Research Grants Council, $947,389 HKD, 01/01/2018-31/12/2020.
Patents
Compounds with antimicrobial activities. U.S. Serial No. 62/615,418; PCT/IB2019/050137. Filed on 09/01/2018.
N-Substituted Oseltamivir Derivatives with Antimicrobial Activity. US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/865,347; PCT/CN2020/097602. Filed on 23/06/2020.
Publications (Representative*) *equal contribution

  1. Ye J, Chu AJ, Harper R, Chan ST, Shek TL, Zhang Y, Ip M, Sambir M, Artsimovitch I, Zuo Z, Yang X*, Ma C*. Discovery of Antibacterials that Inhibit Bacterial RNA Polymerase Interactions with Sigma Factors. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2020; 63(14): 7695-7720. supplementary cover article.
  2. Qiu Y, Chan ST, Lin L, Shek TL, Tsang TF, Barua N, Zhang Y, Ip M, Chan PK, Blanchard N, Hanquet G, Zuo Z*, Yang X*, Ma C*. Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of antimicrobial diarylimine and -amine compounds targeting the interaction between the bacterial NusB and NusE proteins. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2019; 178:214-231.
  3. Tsang TF, Qiu Y, Lin L, Ye JQ, Ma C*, Yang X*. A simple method for studying in vitro protein-protein interactions based on luciferase complementation and its application in drug screening targeting bacterial transcription. ACS Infectious Diseases. 2019; 5(4):521-527. supplementary cover paper.
  4. Yang X, Luo MJ, Yeung ACM, Lewis PJ, Chan PKS, Ip M, Ma C. First-In-Class Inhibitor of Ribosomal RNA Synthesis with Antimicrobial Activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Biochemistry. 2017; doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00349.
  5. Ma C, Yang X, Lewis PJ. Bacterial Transcription Inhibitor of RNA Polymerase Holoenzyme Formation by Structure-Based Drug Design: From in Silico Screening to Validation. ACS Infectious Disease 2016; 2(1): 39-46.
  6. Ma C, Yang X, Lewis PJ. Bacterial transcription as a target for antibacterial drug development. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 2016; 80(1): 139-160.
  7. Ma C*, Mobli M*, Yang X*, Keller AN, King G, Lewis PJ. The Mechanism of Transcription Pause Enhancement By NusA. Nucleic Acid Research 2015; 43(5): 2829-2840.
  8. Keller AN, Yang X, Wiedermannová J, Delumeau O, Krásný L, Lewis PJ. ε, a New Subunit of RNA Polymerase Found in Gram-Positive Bacteria. Journal of Bacteriology 2014; 196: 3622-3632.
  9. Yang X, Molimau S, Doherty GP, Johnston EB, Marles-Wright J, Rothnagel R, Hankamer B, Lewis RJ, Lewis PJ. The structure of bacterial RNA polymerase in complex with the essential transcription elongation factor NusA. EMBO Reports 2009; 10: 997-1002.

Start-up Company
Ynno Med Limited

www.ynnomed.com

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