Profiles

Research Interests

Dr. Sanders’ laboratory explores the epigenetic mechanisms in tissue injury repair, aging and age-related diseases. Currently, the main research projects including: 1) the interactions of  epigenetic reader protein bromodomains with acetylated histone and other transcriptional factors in aging and in lung injury and repair; 2) histone modification in aging and fibrosis; 3) metabolic reprogramming of cell phenotype through epigenetic mechanism; 4) DNA methylation and crosstalk with methyl-binding proteins in gene expression during fibroblast activation; 5) effects of nutrient-sensor O-GlcNAc on epigenetic enzymes and caused changes on specific histone regulated genes; 6) development of biomarkers with cell-free DNA from Alzheimer’s patients samples.  

Key Words: 
Epigenetic mechanisms, histone modification, DNA methylation, transcriptional factor, gene expression, aging, tissue injury repair, age-related diseases, fibrosis, inflammation

Presentations and Scholarships

Relevant Publications:

1. Xiang Z, Bai L, Zhou JQ, Cevallos RO, Sanders JR, Liu G, Bernard K, Sanders YY. Epigenetic regulation of IPF fibroblast phenotype by glutaminolysis. Molecular Metabolism, 2023 Jan; 67:101655. PMID: 36526153
2. X Zhang, Liu H, Zhou JQ, Krick S, Barnes JW, Thannickal VJ, Sanders YY. Modulation of H4K16Ac levels reduces pro-fibrotic gene expression and mitigates lung fibrosis in aged mice. 2022 Jan1; 12(2):530-541. PMID: 34976199
3. Xiang Z, Zhou Q, Hu M, Sanders YY. MeCP2 epigenetically regulates alpha-smooth muscle actin in human lung fibroblasts. J Cell Biochem. 2020 Mar. PMID: 32115750.

1. Lyu X, Hu M, Peng J, Zhang X, Sanders YY. HDAC inhibitors as antifibrotic drugs in cardiac and pulmonary fibrosis.  Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease. 2019, Jul 18. PMID: 31367296
2. Bai L, Bernard K, Tang X, Hu M, Horowitz JC, Thannickal VJ, Sanders YY. Glutaminolysis Epigenetically Regulates Anti-Apoptotic Gene Expression in IPF Fibroblasts. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2019 Jan; 60(1):49-57. PMID: 30130138

Publication list: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Sanders%20YY&sort=date