Overcome preferred-orientation problem

March 26, 2026

​

Our Comment article discussing strategies that help address particle orientation bias in cryo-EM is published in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology!

​

​

​

Welcome Phillip, Brady, Lianna, and Anthony!

January 20, 2026

​

Phillip Even, a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Chemistry, joins the lab. Brady Ochalla, Lianna Yeh, and Anthony Bonilla, first-year undergraduate students, join the lab for their First-Year Honors Mentoring Program. Welcome!

​

​

​

Insights into better anti-coronavirus drugs

January 13, 2026

​

Our work, published in Nature Communications. elucidates the mechanism of coronavirus resistance to multiple nucleotide analog antivirals and provides new insights into designing improved drugs that can evade the proofreading mechanism of coronaviruses. Congratulations to Yu and our collaborators!

​

​

​

Welcome Ryan!

December 15, 2025

​

Ryan Hasbrook, a graduate student in the Biophysics program, joins the lab for his PhD!

​

​

​

How the proofreading enzyme diverges across coronaviruses

December 8, 2025

​

Our work delineating the cryo-EM structure and RNA recognition by MERS-CoV proofreading ExoN and revealing its divergence from the SARS-CoV-2 ortholog is published in Nature Communications. Congratulations to Yu, Lauren, and our collaborators!

​

​

​

First PhD from the lab!

November 18, 2025

​

Congratulations to our first graduate from the lab – Dr. Scott Becker (BBMB program)!

​

​

​

How SARS-CoV-2 is resistant to remdesivir

October 1, 2025

​

Our latest work, published in PNAS, reveals the molecular basis underlying the resistance of SARS-CoV-2 to the frontline antiviral drug remdesivir. Congratulations to Yu, Scott, Ayesha, and our collaborators!

​

​

​

Welcome JJ!

September 30, 2025

​

JJ Fiene, a first-year undergraduate student majoring in Biochemistry, joins the lab.

​

​

​

Yang receives the Early Achievement in Research Award!

April 30, 2024

​

Yang receives the ISU Award for Early Achievement in Research, which recognize a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in research and/or creative activity unusually early in their professional career. Thank all lab members for all the amazing work you have done!

​

​

​

Welcome Lauren and Ayesha!

January 16, 2024

​

Lauren Recker and Ayesha Khan, first-year undergraduate students, join the lab for their First-Year Honors Mentoring Program. Welcome!

​

​

​

Welcome Lakshmi!

December 15, 2023

​

Lakshmi Narasimhan, a graduate student in the MCDB program, joins the lab for her PhD!

​

​

​

Yang Lab receives a new grant!

July 26, 2023

​

Yang, as the principle investigator, received the Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) (R35) from National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). This major grant provides long-term support for Yang Lab's research on structural and functional studies of coronavirus genome replication and transcription.

​

​

​

Yang receives the Postdoctoral Principal Investigator Mentoring Award!

June 30, 2023

​

Yang won the 2023 Postdoctoral Principal Investigator Mentoring Award, which recognizes principal investigators’ excellence in their mentorship of postdoctoral scholars. The purpose of the award is to promote a collaborative research environment for postdoctoral scholars at Iowa State, eventually leading to their successful transitions to the next stage in their career.

​

​

​

Welcome Yu!

August 16, 2022

​

We are excited to welcome Yu Li to the lab! Yu joins us for her postdoc after finishing a PhD at University of Auckland.

​

​

​

Yang Lab receives the first grant!

May 23, 2022

​

Yang, together with other component PIs of the Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center, received $66 million from NIAID. Our Center is part of a network of nine national centers established by NIAID in response to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. We will conduct innovative, multidisciplinary research to develop antivirals targeting coronaviruses and other potential pandemic RNA viruses.

​

​

​

Welcome Addison, Timothy, and Julian!

January 18, 2022

Addison Lincoln, a second-year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biology, joins the lab. Timothy Stanley and Julian Randall, first-year undergraduate students, join the lab for their First-Year Honors Mentoring Program. Welcome!

​​

​​

​​

New study details enzyme that allows coronavirus to resist antiviral medications

August 3, 2021

Our recent work on SARS-CoV-2 proofreading enzyme is highlighted by ISU News!

​

​

​

How SARS-CoV-2 proofreading enzyme recognizes mismatches in viral RNA

July 27, 2021

Coroanvirus exoribonuclease boosts replication fidelity by proofreading RNA synthesis and is critical for the virus life cycle. Our work depicting high-resolution atomic pictures of this RNA proofreading process is published in Science! Congratulations to Scott and our collaborators!.

​

​​​​​​

​

The process of multidrug-activated transcription visualized by cryo-EM

May 11, 2021

​

The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a major global challenge. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism governing the gene expression regulation by the multidrug-sensing MerR family regulators in response to diverse drug molecules is critical for the treatment of bacterial infections. In our lab's new study, we reported one crystal structure of a multidrug-sensing MerR family regulator EcmrR and nine cryo-EM structures that capture the EcmrR-dependent transcription process from promoter opening to initial transcription to RNA elongation. Our findings provide a comprehensive model for transcription regulation by the MerR family regulators, with broad mechanistic implications for multidrug resistance in bacteria.

​

​

​

Welcome Scott!

 

April 5, 2021

​

Scott Becker, a graduate student in the Biochemistry program, joins the lab for his PhD!