jiping yang
Dr. Jiping Yang
Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics and Biochemistry
Email: jipingy@clemson.edu
Biosketch
I received my B.S. in Bioengineering from China Agricultural University in 2012 and my Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2018. I completed postdoctoral training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Columbia University and subsequently became an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University. In 2026, I joined the Institute for Human Genetics and the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry at Clemson University as an Assistant Professor.
Research
My research is driven by a central question: how can naturally occurring human genetic variation be leveraged to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying human traits, and ultimately identify new therapeutic opportunities? To address this question, my lab integrates human genetics, functional genomics, and molecular and cell biology. We combine population-scale genetic studies with experimental approaches to identify causal genetic variants, define their molecular and cellular functions, and establish the mechanisms through which genetic variation shapes human physiology and disease risk. My current research focuses on human aging, with an emphasis on human longevity, age-related diseases, and female reproductive aging. The research program encompasses three major areas: 1) development and application of variant-centric high-throughput screens to systematically identify functional variants for deep mechanistic investigation; 2) functional characterization of genetic variants using human stem cell models to define their molecular and cellular consequences and uncover the mechanisms linking genetic variation to human traits; 3) translation of mechanistic discoveries into variant-informed therapeutic strategies.
Publications
Wang X*, Yang J*, Jin C, Wang X, Contreras D, Devos M, Kane MM, Rosenfeld MG, Suh Y. Single-cell atlas of the mouse ovary reveals molecular drivers of aging and senescence during the estropausal transition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Jul 28; 123(30):e2600323123. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2600323123. Epub 2026 Jul 21. PubMed PMID: 42479833; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC13416851.
Yang J, Han H, Wang X, Zhu Y, Chen H, Suh Y. Rare centenarian SIRT6 variants elevate SIRT6 protein levels and resist cellular senescence. bioRxiv[Preprint]. 2025 Sep. [Under revision at Nature Communications]. Available from: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.29.679208v1. bioRxiv: 679208
Yang J, Han H, Wang X, Suh Y. Epigenetic CRISPR screening of 9p21.3 non-coding regions identifies cis-regulatory elements of P16INK4a and P15INK4b controlling cellular senescence. bioRxiv[Preprint]. 2025 Sep. Available from: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.29.679215v1. bioRxiv: 679215
Jin C*, Wang X*, Yang J*, Kim S, Hudgins AD, Gamliel A, Pei M, Contreras D, Devos M, Guo Q, Vijg J, Conti M, Hoeijmakers J, Campisi J, Lobo R, Williams Z, Rosenfeld MG, Suh Y. Molecular and genetic insights into human ovarian aging from single-nuclei multi-omics analyses. Nature Aging. 2025 Feb; 5(2):275-290. doi: 10.1038/s43587-024-00762-5. Epub 2024 Nov 22. PubMed PMID: 39578560; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11839473.
Yang J*, Tare A*, Zhang L, Kim S, Ryu S, Atzmon G, Milman S, Barzilai N, Vijg J, Niedernhofer L, Robbins P, Suh Y. Longevity-associated SMAD3 non-coding centenarian variant impairs a cell-type specific enhancer to reduce inflammation. bioRxiv[Preprint]. 2023 May. [Under Revision at Nature Aging]. Available from: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.17.540984v1. bioRxiv: 540984
Simon M*, Yang J*, Gigas J, Earley EJ, Hillpot E, Zhang L, Zagorulya M, Tombline G, Gilbert M, Yuen SL, Pope A, Van Meter M, Emmrich S, Firsanov D, Athreya A, Biashad SA, Han J, Ryu S, Tare A, Zhu Y, Hudgins A, Atzmon G, Barzilai N, Wolfe A, Moody K, Garcia BA, Thomas DD, Robbins PD, Vijg J, Seluanov A, Suh Y, Gorbunova V. A rare human centenarian variant of SIRT6 enhances genome stability and interaction with Lamin A. EMBO J. 2022 Nov 2; 41(21):e110393. doi: 10.15252/embj.2021110393. Epub 2022 Oct 10. PubMed PMID: 36215696; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9627671.
Fang J*, Yang J*, Wu X*, Zhang G, Li T, Wang X, Zhang H, Wang CC, Liu GH, Wang L. Metformin alleviates human cellular aging by upregulating the endoplasmic reticulum glutathione peroxidase 7. Aging Cell. 2018 Aug; 17(4):e12765. doi: 10.1111/acel.12765. Epub 2018 Apr 16. PubMed PMID: 29659168; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6052468.
Yang J*, Li J*, Suzuki K*, Liu X, Wu J, Zhang W, Ren R, Zhang W, Chan P, Izpisua Belmonte JC, Qu J, Tang F, Liu GH. Genetic enhancement in cultured human adult stem cells conferred by a single nucleotide recoding. Cell Research. 2017 Sep; 27(9):1178-1181. doi: 10.1038/cr.2017.86. Epub 2017 Jul 7. PubMed PMID: 28685772; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5587854.
Asterisks indicate co-first authors