Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Student Profile: Xin Yu

Master
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Xin Yu
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My name is Xin Yu, an energetic and highly motivated pharmacologist in Dr. Jin Wang’s group. I got my bachelor’s degree at Sichuan University in China in pharmaceutical engineering and a master’s degree in the University of Southern California in pharmaceutical sciences.

I am helping to develop novel Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs, aka protein degraders) to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. PROTACs can be described as a chemical knockdown approach. They mediate degradation of targets instead of simply inhibiting them. This enables the targeting of previously inaccessible target. For example is possible to abolish pathological protein-protein interactions and to prolong pharmacodynamic effects.

Our group is a highly interdisciplinary and integrated chemical biology and drug discovery group. Trainees in the group learn to speak both chemistry and biology language to ensure efficient collaborations. I am always excited by the smart ideas of chemists in the group and how they take advantage of the chemistry tools developed in the group to address important questions in biological.

In the future, I plan to devote my efforts in the pharmaceutical industry where I will promote efficient collaborations between chemists and biologists.

During my leisure time, I am teaching myself violin. I want to express my sincere appreciation to my roommate who tolerates the “sound of sawing wood” from my violin, hoping that by the time I have my first-authored paper published, I can play some beautiful tunes for her.