Biochemistry and Structural Biology  http://www.gbs.uab.edu  http://www.uab.edu/graduate

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Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Biochemistry and Structural Biology 

Biographical Sketch 
Hao Jiang received his B.S. degree in Biological Sciences & Biotechnology in 1996 from the Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), and a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology & Genetics in 2005 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He then joined Dr. Robert Roeder’s group at the Rockefeller University in New York, where he studied roles of histone modifications in transcription and ES cell function. He joined the UAB faculty in 2011.

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Epigenetic regulation of stem cell fate determination and tumoregenesis
Description
The broad interest of my laboratory is how gene regulation at the chromatin, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional levels controls the stability and plasticity of cell identity, how dysregulation of these mechanisms lead to diseases especially cancer, and how we may develop novel molecules to combat these diseases based on these mechanisms. Controlling the stability and plasticity of cell identity is crucial for animal development and physiology, and is also pivotal for regenerative medicine. With a few exceptions, all cells in an organism share the same genome, but they do have different epigenomes and gene expression patterns. Therefore, at the heart of the cell identity control is the control of gene expression. Epigenetic mechanisms including the covalent chemical modifications on histones are increasingly recognized as a fundamental and prevalent means to regulate gene expression. Our lab focuses on the regulation and function of H3K4 methylation in gene expression involved in stem cell fate determination in developmental and pathological processes. We have previously shown that Dpy30, a common subunit of the major H3K4 methyltransferases in mammals, plays an essential role for efficient induction of developmental genes during embryonic stem cell fate specification (Jiang et al, Cell 2011). We have then shown a critical role of Dpy30 in ex vivo proliferation and proper differentiation of human hematopoietic progenitor cells, as well as in zebrafish hematopoiesis (Yang et al., Blood 2014). Current and future research in the lab continues to focus on the epigenetic regulation of gene expression critically involved in stem cell fate determination. We employ a combination of biochemical, genetic and genomic approaches to investigate the physiological roles of the H3K4 methyltransferases as well as their associated factors in the regulation of gene expression (including RNA processing) involved in the maintenance and differentiation of stem cells, animal development, and cancer pathogenesis. Based on the results we have obtained, We are also studying how the epigenetic regulators might be targeted for anti-cancer treatment.

Selected Publications 
Jing Hu, Alireza Khodadadi-Jamayran, Miaowei Mao, Kushani Shah, Zhenhua Yang, Talat Nasim, Zefeng Wang, and Hao Jiang†. AKAP95 regulates splicing through scaffolding RNAs and RNA processing factors. Nature Communications 7:13347, 2016.  27824034 
Zhenhua Yang, Kushani Shah, Alireza Khodadadi-Jamayran, and Hao Jiang†. Dpy30 Is Critical for Maintaining the Identity and Function of Adult Hematopoietic Stem Cells. Journal of Experimental Medicine 213:2349-2364, 2016.  27647347 
Zhenhua Yang, Jonathan Augustin, Jing Hu, and Hao Jiang†. Physical Interactions and Functional Coordination between the Core Subunits of Set1/Mll Complexes and the Reprogramming Factors. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0145336, 2015.  26691508 
Zhenhua Yang*, Jonathan Augustin*, Chenbei Chang, Jing Hu, Kushani Shah, Chia-Wei Chang, Tim Townes, and Hao Jiang†. The DPY30 subunit in SET1/MLL complexes regulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. Blood. 124:2025-2033, 2014. * Equal contribution.  25139354 
Hao Jiang (§), Xiangdong Lu (§), Miho Shimada, Yali Dou, Zhanyun Tang, and Robert G. Roeder
Regulation of transcription by MLL2 complex and MLL complexes-associated protein AKAP95. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 20:1156-1163, 2013. (§) Equal contribution. 		 23995757 
Hao Jiang, Abhijit Shukla, Xiaoling Wang, Wei-yi Chen, Bradley E. Bernstein, and Robert G. Roeder. Role for Dpy-30 in ES cell-fate specification by regulation of H3K4 methylation within bivalent domains. Cell 144:513-525, 2011.  21335234 
Hao Jiang, Fu-chung Chang, Ashley E. Ross, Jihyun Lee, Keiichi Nakayama, Keiko Nakayama, and Stephen Desiderio. Ubiquitylation of RAG-2 by Skp2-SCF links destruction of the V(D)J recombinase to the cell cycle. Molecular Cell 18:699-709, 2005.  15949444 
Hao Jiang, Ashley E. Ross and Stephen Desiderio. Cell cycle-dependent accumulation in vivo of transposition-competent complexes between recombinant signal ends and full-length RAG proteins. Journal of Biological Chemistry 279:8478-8486, 2004.  14660558 
 

Keywords
epigenetic regulation, histone methylation, transcription, stem cell, cancer