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2022 ASBMB Election
Home Membership Election 2022 Y. Jessie Zhang

ZHANG, Y. Jessie

Professor, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Molecular Biosciences

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Y. Jessie Zhang

Statement of interest

I found the ASBMB was my scientific home when I realized that many events by the society were specially designed with the junior researchers as the focus. I wholeheartedly concur with that vision and find education/mentorship a calling and the primary goal of my professional life. Ever since I started to volunteer my time in the society in 2014, I have always put any task from the ASBMB as a top priority because of its impact on junior scientists and the broader scientific community. I want an opportunity to further contribute to our beloved society because of my dedication to the ASBMB mission and passion for inspiring the next generation of researchers. I will voice the challenges our researchers are facing and identify mechanisms to promote their careers.

Education and training

  • B.S., chemistry, Tsinghua University (1997)
  • M.S., chemistry, The University of Oregon (2000)
  • Ph.D., molecular biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla (2004)
  • Postdoctoral fellow, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies (2004–2008)

Awards and honors

  • Natural Science Foundation Teaching Excellence Award, UT Austin (2019)
  • Professor of the Year, voted by the UT Austin undergrad student body (2017)
  • Faculty Service Award, UT Austin (2017)
  • American Crystallographic Association Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award (2015)
  • Chinese National Chemical Society Competition, First Prize (1993)

Experience

I have been serving on the ASBMB Meetings Committee for the past five years, reviewing every meeting proposal. For ASBMB annual conferences, I have organized multiple themed minisymposiums and spotlight sessions in addition to chairing special symposia on transcription. As a contributor of articles in ASBMB Today, I wrote to promote the spotlight sessions of the annual meeting and on topics of teaching/mentoring approaches.

Beyond the society, I am a regular member of the National Institutes of Health Macromolecular Structure and Function A Study Section, the American Heart Association, and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. I also serve as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH, the National Science Foundation and half a dozen private foundations.

My lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of the enzymes that govern the post-translational modification states of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II and their implication in transcription. Furthermore, we use a combination of structural biology and AI approaches to guide protein engineering and small molecule inhibitor design.